Vacancy for my maternity leave cover...

[BoogieBean]

...My last day at work will be 3rd July as I will be taking a months annual leave before my maternity leave officially starts. I currently do a job share, so I am working 3 days a week and my colleague also works 3 days a week (There are 3 of us on the reception desk on Wednesdays), and our job title is Part-time Receptionist. My colleague has recently told our manager that she will like to drop to 2 days a week, commencing 1st August which my manager has agreed.

The vacancy for my position has recently been uploaded, and was advertised as 'Part-time Receptionist' working 3 days a week (Fine, as that's what I currently do). However, now the advert has changed to 'Hospitality Assistant' working 4 days a week??

Nothing has been said to me regarding any details of my job changing, so are they allowed to advertise my position like this, as this is not my job title nor the amount of days that I work? I thought when someone goes on maternity leave their job was meant to stay the same or they had to come back under the same conditions as when they left or am I wrong??

I hope any of you lovely people can help shed some light on this.

TIA x

They can cover your maternity leave any way they like - with the same job, a different job or not at all. It's what happens on your return that is important.

However you are right that you should be able to come back to your job as it is. Have you spoken to your manager? I would suggest doing that and just explaining that you understand you are entitled to return to the same job and are concerned as to what this means for you.

See what your manager says and take it from there. He/she may be able to reassure you that your job will be the same, or if not, you can consider what to do.

The job only has to be the same if you come back in 6 months or less. After that it is same terms and confitions.