Maternity leave restructuring

[Lrsrt12]

Hi

I am wondering if anyone has been through this situation and can offer any advice on my position. I have been on maternity leave 2 months. Previously managed a team of c.30. Company put in place maternity leave cover for my leave. I have found out in the last week that my team is being restructured and 3 of my 5 direct reports are moving reporting line. That is over half of the team. No-one has told me officially - I know because one of my direct reports called me very upset. The date of change is 1st August.

What are my rights? Should I have been consulted? Offered redundancy? Told?!

Thanks in advance for any help

I've never been through this but your employer should have informed you. However does this mean your role will be changing or is at risk? It may be that your position will remain the same. When you are ready (and appreciate you're only two months into your mat leave) I would request a KIT day so you can discuss this further with your manager. Hope this helps.

Yes you should have been informed. Is there a possibility your employer didn't want to bother you whilst on maternity leave, particularly so early?

Not sure what you mean about being 'offered' redundancy? Is there any suggestion your role is redundant?

If your own role is affected by the restructuring and is at risk of redundancy, then you should have been consulted.

Are you actually being made redundant or is your role still remaining?

If the former then they can place you at risk of redundancy whilst you are on maternity leave but cannot place you on notice of redundancy dismissal until your maternity leave ends.

If it is just some organisational restructuring changes it would have been best practice for them to have informed you but if your role still exists then there is not a lot else they needed to do. It may only be a temporary change until you return?

Phone your manager and ask for an update

"They can place you at risk of redundancy whilst you are on maternity leave but cannot place you on notice of redundancy dismissal until your maternity leave ends"

Of course they can! If someone's role is genuinely redundant they are not required to pretend otherwise for months just because the person happens to be on mat leave. As long as they are consulted fully, a fair procedure is followed and a suitable alternative vacancy offered if there is one, it's perfectly lawful to confirm the redundancy of someone on maternity leave.

I'd be grateful to lose over 50% of my line management responsibilities tbh

Call Maternity Action. They are brilliant and can give you some proper legal advice

Link here
www.maternityaction.org.uk

And no, they can't do this without telling you, it changed your job

What is it you think they've done wrong here? Your cover is presumably still there doing your job but with less reports so doesn't sound like your role is redundant.

Some companies ridiculously are terrified of contacting people on Mat leave to discuss what's going on at the office as for every person like you who would want to know the next person could get offended they've been contacted whilst on leave or get hysterical about harassment. You can't win sometimes.

If it's something you want to know about why not call them and ask about it rather than call maternity action when you have no facts?

Flowery - they can't sack someone whilst they are on maternity leave. It has to be effective from the date their maternity leave ends.

They can, and it doesn't, that's nonsense I'm afraid.

I'm not going to get into an argument with you about it but it might be worthwhile if you checked your employment legislation

You show me which piece of legislation says you cannot dismiss someone on maternity leave for redundancy and I will happily eat my hat revise the advice I give clients.

Silently laughs atvthec thought of flowery needing to check employment legislation.

Best cancel the employment law training session I'm doing for our newest HR consultant next week eh?

Just flicking through an ACAS myth busting leaflet section on managing redundancy in pregnant/maternity leave employees

I can't link properly on my phone but the OP might find this leaflet useful if she googles it.

This one? Yes pretty good isn't it? Hadn't seen that before.

Myth 1 - "Pregnant women and women on maternity leave cannot be made redundant" Answer: "This is not true"

That's the one

OP, from your OP, you will still have 2 out of 5 direct reports so your job would change rather than be made redundant. How many months are you planning on taking maternity leave for, as this will impact on what changes there can be to the job you return to.

Just another note saying flowery knows what she's talking about :)

I really don't think the direct reports should have contacted op about this. Does she have form, op, for being a bit of a drama llama?

I also don't think it's necessarily a massive change in your post, other than allowing you to get on with more of the non-line management tasks maybe.

Oh, and what Figgygal said. Call your manager, but for God's sake don't go in all guns blazing.

And Of course people can be made redundant on mat leave I've had to do it on a number of occasions but this doesn't sound like redundancy to me

Do you know if it's just your team being restructured, or are other teams reorganising as well?

It sounds as though you're concerned that your level of responsibility is being reduced? Does the grade of post directly reflect the number of people you have reporting to you in your organisation?