Have just had a very stressed colleague come to me to ask about this and MN is (of course) my first port of call (though am about to ring HR anonymously)
Background:
We are a small lab-based research group (2 principal investigators, 3 postdocs, 4 RAs, 1 PhD student).
We're all employed by the University.
Along with similar-sized groups at two other universities, we form a bigger UK-wide research group (the Consortium).
The consortium is funded by a charity.
We're all on fixed-term contracts.
Our current contract expires in March.
We expect to get a further 3 years of funding from March ie a new 3-yr contract.
One postdoc and one RA are pregnant at the moment, meaning they'll be on maternity leave in March when the new contract starts, and another RA is hoping to be pregnant by then.
Previous maternity leaves in the lab have taken place during long contract periods, and the 'maternity money' (which seems to come from the government(?)) has been used to fund temporary 6-month positions to cover maternity leave.
However, our PI today implied that this will no longer be possible as the money is now 'non-transferable'.
She also went on to imply that people who were pregnant or on maternity leave when the contract is renewed may not be approved by the funding charity for inclusion in the new contract, ie may lose their jobs.
I know the University has very solid maternity and HR rules for employees, but if you stop getting funding from the charity do you stop being an employee of the University meaning they'd no longer apply?
Does anyone have experience of this kind of situation?
Is the PI
a) misinterpreting the rules
b) just being an arse and trying to scare us or
c) right?