Can my line manager do this? HEd job situation

[PrincessOfWails]

Will try to keep this anonymous and short!
I'm on a three-year scheme, and at the end of the three years the dept must advertise a post which I would be able to apply for.
There are other (lengthy!) issues which mean that I am in the wrong dept, basically. So, because I'm pg and my contract ends in Sept, I asked my HOD to delay advertising the post until I am back from mat leave - that would be after Christmas. He agreed to consult on this and get back to me.

Yesterday I saw him about something else, and he also announced that he will be advertising the post - i.e. the one that I should be able to apply for - RIGHT NOW. He has since sent me a copy of the job advert and the spec.

The problem: the closing date will be 3rd June, interviews end of June, and I will be minimum 38 wks gone by then.
He has also advertised the post with a lower salary than I'm getting.

Is this fair/doable/legal? I really don't want to find out that I'm unemployed days before I give birth, and I don't really want the stress of this job application etc right now - it's going to ruin the rest of my pregnancy (I'm not in today - morning sickness came back this morning, probably due to this shit).

If I go on maternity leave, say beginning of June, how would that affect things? And what if I have the baby early or something - what then, how would the interview work?

I don't quite understand.
What are the terms of your current contract. Is there a specific requirement that you must be considered for the job in question? Do you get any sort of priority for the position over external candidates.

Is this a research fellowship to lectureship transition?

Sorry, it is quite complex and specific (but then I would out myself in RL!). The requirement in my current contract is that a job must be advertised which I can apply for; no mention of priority or anything like that, although the norm with these is that the job advert is written with the specific skills the fellowship holder has as a feature.
And it's a transition from a short-term contract under a particular scheme (so not a research fellowship) to a permanent post.

I'm wondering whether doing this with me being in late pregnancy is really, I mean really, advertising a position which I can apply for? Surely questionable?

Does the funding for your current position come from the same place as the new position? Is this external funding? (I only ask because you may find the funder has a different view to your employer.)

I can't advise on the legal position in terms of what your rights are (although I suspect depends on precisely how your current contract is written).

In practice however, I would feel quite gloomy about this. The HoD seems to have the option (via job descriptions etc) to make this job very easy for you to get and yet seems not to be making things easy for you. This would make me suspect that he actually wants to appoint an external candidate. I assume your field is as competitive as the rest of HE at the moment and so they are likely to be spoilt for choice. However bear in mind that he may mot be permitted to delay the appointment. I can think of several reasons that this might be.

Have you checked how your maternity pay is affected by all this.

good luck.

Thanks - I am quite hysterical frankly about the whole situation: for exactly the reasons you state. He could just make me permanent (it is actually within my rights as I've been at the institution a set amount of time) but instead, he's making me jump through hoops. Not necessarily because he wants someone else, but my suspicion is that he wants me to commit formally to doing things which I don't want to do. Including losing some of my integrity to myself as a researcher, and closing some doors in certain areas which matter to me etc. (Again, complex, would out myself!)

I have now had a word with HR - the only positive is that the lower salary isn't likely to happen in fact. But things are very very bleak.

Oh dear.
I have no idea of what field you are in, but I do have some experience with the politics of situations like this. Feel free to PM me with more info if that would help. :)

I hope the HR bods come on later to give you more concrete advice.

If your contract says there is a job advertised that you can apply for and he's advertising it and you can apply for it then your contract has been fufilled.

There is nothing in employment law to state that you must delay the application becuase it would suit you.

There may be other reasons (funding) while they have to advertise it now and not in 6 months becuase it will suit you.