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Original poster

passed over for promotion because of pregnancy

13 replies

69bex69 · 17/12/2012 09:50

My manager had hinted that a promotion was up for grabs as he was moving up the ladder that was until he found out i was pregnant. I had been looking for the application on our internal system as this is the process for all the other vacancies but it never appeared? Now im on maternity leave and all of a sudden, another member got the promotion! I am far more qualified for the job and had i not been pregnant, i most certainly would have got the promotion. What makes it worse is i have a disliking to the person who got the promotion. She is my SIL and a very annoying, immature and obstructive one at that. Im not annoyed with her that this has happened but there is no way i could cope with her gloating at work. Im thinking about putting a discrimination claim in

OP posts:

flowerytaleofNewYork · 17/12/2012 11:41

So there was a vacancy that you were a likely candidate for, and vacancies are normally advertised but this one wasn't?

Who got the promotion is totally irrelevant to this, and the fact that it is your SIL and you don't like her has nothing to do with it.

If vacancies are normally advertised, this one should have been also and you should have been given the opportunity to apply.

Have you asked your manager why it wasn't advertised?

Original poster

69bex69 · 17/12/2012 13:34

Not yet. This only happened last thursday and i need some advice on the best way to go forward with this

OP posts:

flowerytaleofNewYork · 17/12/2012 21:30

Well speak to your manager would be job 1. How did you find out, was it not your manager who told you?

Find out what your manager has to say, then the next step would be a formal grievance so get hold of a copy of your grievance procedure

2048 · 19/12/2012 21:28

How will a formal grievance help this? Surely not getting promoted is one of the downsides of maternity leave. if you had been promoted a maternity cover would also be needed as well. You cannot have everything.

flowerytaleofNewYork · 19/12/2012 21:39

"Surely not getting promoted is one of the downsides of maternity leave. if you had been promoted a maternity cover would also be needed as well. You cannot have everything."

2048 you may feel its acceptable to penalise women for taking maternity leave and deny them equal access to promotion opportunities but fortunately it's no longer the 1970s and the law disagrees with you.

If the OP has been denied a promotion or the opportunity to apply for a promotion because of her pregnancy then her employer has broken the law, simple as that. That's why a formal grievance will help.

And what's wrong with maternity cover anyway? No reason the OP couldn't have been promoted with the other employee filling the role temporarily as maternity cover.

2048 · 19/12/2012 21:46

I would suggest that a formal grievance would annoy her employer and make any promotion/progression even more unlikely. You need to accept life as it is and not how you would like it to be

flowerytaleofNewYork · 19/12/2012 21:49

"You need to accept life as it is and not how you would like it to be"

What a depressing thought. Luckily not everyone thinks like that or women wouldn't even have the vote, let alone protection from discrimination!

hermioneweasley · 19/12/2012 21:53

Bex, for what it's worth I agree with flowery (as always). I think there can be minor issues where you need to ask yourself whether it's worth annoying your employer, but what appears to be pretty blatant sex discrimination is not one of them.

2048 · 19/12/2012 21:54

I think pregnant women have plenty of protection, a little bit of reality would not go amiss. Go on materity leave, be away for upto 12 months and you will miss out a bit.

MasterOfTheChristmasDisaster · 19/12/2012 21:59

2048 - Employers are bound BY LAW to inform all employees on Mat Leave of any vacancies within the company.

My god, are we back in the sixties?

OP - I would speak to your Manager and also contact your HR department. If you are intending on returning to work after leave then there is no good reason why they shouldn't of informed you of the vacancy

blondietinsellyminx · 19/12/2012 21:59

flowery hear, hear!