Employment law advice needed!

[Crmmum]

I'm having a bit of a nightmare situation with me work at the moment. The company I work for (I am on maternity leave but have been with the company for over 2 years) has sold the branch that I manage whilst I have been on maternity leave. It is an oil company. A tupe agreement is in place, and the transfer took place on the first of feb. I have the following issues:

1. I have not been informed of anything at all in writing regarding the transfer, despite repeated requests for this.
2. despite being told I would need to sign a new contract in advance of the transfer, despite several requests by email and phone, I have not received the new contract.
3. my position is 'branch manager' for the company I previously worked for, and the man who was previously covering my maternity cover has now signed a permanent contract with the new company as 'branch manager' without my agreement. If a tupe is in place, surely my old job should be held open for me?
4. I have seen several positions advertised in the local press for this new company, bearing the logo for the old and new company, which I have not been informed of and have been given no opportunity to apply for. Surely they are obliged to notify me of any positions within the company while I am on maternity leave?
5. I have not been contacted by anyone at all from my new employers to discuss any of this, despite being in charge of the entire operation ( regardless of whether I am on maternity leave or not).

Does anyone think I have grounds to seek legal advice over this? Despite attempting to contact me employers on several occasions, I have had no response, and feel very much like I am being pushed out.

Any advice appreciated, particularly from people who work in employment law or hr.

Thanks!

I mean my not me on a couple occasions in this post... Darn iPad and pudgy fingers :-)

How long have you been on maternity leave? If you return to work after Ordinary Maternity Leave (the first 26 weeks of your Statutory Maternity Leave) you have the right to return to the same job. If you return after Additional Maternity Leave your employer can argue that it is not reasonably practical to return you to your original job. In that case they must offer you an alternative job on the same terms and conditions.

TUPE means that the new company cannot dismiss you or change your terms and conditions if the principal reason for the change is the transfer. They can still make changes provided they can show there is an economic, technical or organisational reason.

Your company is not obliged to notify you of vacancies regardless of whether or not you are on maternity leave. If they are making you redundant they must offer you any suitable alternative role but if you are not being made redundant there is no obligation. You are not being "given no opportunity to apply for" these positions. You can respond to the press advertisements in the same way as anyone else.

Your employer hasn't done a terribly good job of keeping you informed over what is happening but, as the transfer only took place on Wednesday, they may have had other priorities.

You need to know their plans. Is your replacement going to manage another branch on your return, allowing you to return to your original job? Are you going to be offered another branch on your return? Or is something else going to happen?

Your employer has been pretty rubbish at keeping in touch but I'm not convinced you have any grounds for legal action at this stage.