Need some help replying to my rejected grievance appeal

[Arianasmummy]

Hi,

The company has rejected my grievance appeal.

They claim i did not request any 'keeping in touch days' and that the failure by me to request KIT days does not constitute a failure by them to inform me of a restructuring!

I am trying to find 'proof' that i don't need to request KIT days before my baby is born and before i have actually started maternity leave. I also need to find some info that would show that they should keep me informed.

Has anybody any suggestions, links etc

Thanks in advance
M

Either they informed you of a restructuring or not, whether you took KIT days is nothing to do with that.

The time to provide information demonstrating that they should have informed you of a restructuring was at the time you raised the grievance or at least when you appealed tbh.

Now the appeal has been rejected you need to decide whether to let it go or take it further in terms of considering a tribunal claim.

I think I sent you a link to a good ACAS briefing paper previously - if you refer to p6 of this doc this should set your mind at ease re the KIT days. Let me know if you need me to re-send the link....

I was in a similar situation to you - whilst I was on maternity a restructuring occurred which I was not informed of. The restructure created several positions which I was not informed of/offered which would have been suitable alternatives. I sought legal advice at a very early stage and persued my claim through an Employment Tribunal. It's a long and costly process which can be stressful. I lodged my claim with the ET office in Dec 2012 and I am currently awaiting the written judgement of the case - therefore it is going to be close to 1yr from the formal lodgings of my ET1 to knowing if my case is successful.

If you do decide to go down the tribunal route, from my own experience I would seek sound legal advice from an employment professional and check the legal merits of your case. Try to have as much documented and organised evidence to share with your solicitor/rep at the initial meeting to enable them to give you a good indication of the strength of your case. I would say that no win, no fee arrangements are not useful at this stage.

However you decide to proceed, good luck. Just to add (& I am in no way from a legal background) on the face of what you are outlining above it sounds that you have been treated less favourably due to your maternity. The onus is on the company to keep you informed and if but for your maternity you would have been aware of the restructure then this points to discrimination.

Thanks Drifa,

Can you send me the link?

At present my case is lodged with the ET in abeyance until the internal procedures are exhausted.

The company rejected my initial grievance so it went to stage 2. I appealed and they have rejected my appeal. So its now on to stage 3. They have actually admitted that their communication of the changes could have been done better! they say they are working to prevent it from happening again! Yet they are clinging on to the fact that i didn't ask for any KIT days.

I have Union support, i have also had an initial chat with an employment law barrister. The barrister believes my best option, as it is very unlikely that the company will be able to find me an alternate position, may be to broker a deal. The company are due to lose the contract soon, they are already making measures to reduce costs, redundancies are likely.

I just wish it was all over,

How are you coping?

M

....here's the link www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/r/f/Managing-redundancy-for-pregnant-employees-or-those-on-maternity-leave-accessible-version.pdf

I'm doing well thanks - the process has been long. That said, I'm glad that I have persued to this point and I'm hopeful that we will have news of the outcome soon.

I hope that you manage to resolve the situation soon, however, if you do go down the ET route feel free to contact me with any specific queries and if I can assist from my own experience I'll be happy to share...