Bullying employer

[scootermum2007]

There seems to be alot of good advice out there so I am hoping that you can help me with my problem as I feel like I am hitting my head against a very large brick wall!!!
Will try to keep the problem brief!
I returned to work after mat leave End Oct 2006. I submitted a Flexible working application in Sept 2006 requesting to work from home 2/3 days a week. The process was never followed by my employers!
My role was changed which I was advised 2 weeks before I returned. The end result was that my workload increased and I would have to travel alot more than I did before I left for mat leave. Also my salary has never been increased to take into account the additional responsibilities - In fact I have never had a pay rise in the 6 years that I have been with the company!
I objected at the time and was advised that I did the job or there was no job for me! As far as my request to work from home was concerned they wanted to assess me working from my desk before they made a decision. I have worked for the company for 6 years and there are 2 male colleagues doing the same job who work from home 5 days a week who have not been with the company as long as myself and were never initially assessed working from the office!
Since returning to work I have had a number of meetings with both my immediate manager and my director to advise that I was having problems sleeping and coping with the stress of the workload. I have had comments like 'that is the like of the working mother'.
To add to the problem I found out that I was pregnant again in Feb which I advised my manager (And yes I will have 2 children 18 months apart!).
The workload and additional stress resulted in collapsing in the office and being rushed to hospital 3 weeks ago. Baby is fine thank god but my doctor signed me off work for 2 weeks with stress.
I have to go back to work on Monday. I am the main breadwinner and I am only on SSP which doesn't quite cover the mortgage which is not helping the stress levels.
I feel my employer is attempting to manage me out of the business which I have suggested and has been denied.
I would like to work from home 2/3 days a week and have my workload reduced to a more managable level.
Any advice on whether this is reasonable and if so how do I go about achieving it?

Appreciate any help/advice

acas.

Sorry to hear you have been through such a tough time but good news about the baby.

Can you clarify what happened with the flex application, how didn't they follow procedure and what was the outcome.

What had happened to your old job and why weren't you allowed to return to that. You are entitled to return to your original job at the end of leave unless it is not reasonably practicable - basically if it no longer exists. If it no longer exists, they should have spoken to you about that with regard to redeployment or redundancy. they have to give you a job on no less favourable terms and conditions. The fact that you have more responsibilty, travel and workload means that you are on less favourable terms and conditions, particularly if your pay hasn't increased.

Why did they say there would be no job for you if you didn't take that one?

If you can clarify those couple of points for me I can give you some more info.

Based on what else you have said they are bullying you. They are also treating you less favourably than male colleagues in a similar position so probably sex discrimination for that and also with regard to not allowing you back to your old role. they are possibly in breach of the flexible working process too.

You will really need to put in a formal grievance covering every aspect, point by point. Follow their procedure to the letter, make sure you have a resolution in mind (is working from home and more manageble workload enough for you). Don't worry if you have a massive list of things to cover, even like the pay rise aspect - do you have evidence of other people having a pay rise.

You could potentially resign and claim constructive dismissal but I would advise that you follow the grievance route first as its a tough case to bring as you have to prove the treatment was so bad that the relationship was untenable and you could no longer work there. Saying that, you are suffering stress as a result so obviously its bad.

See if you have legal cover under home insurance cover as it usually covers employment issues. Phone ACAS or CAB too and most importantly keep detailed records of comments, conversations etc for evidence in the future.

finally, get signed off again if you feel its too much for you. You can always do the grievance by letter and ask them to deal with it, going in for a meeting if you feel up to it

Thanks for your kind words.

FWA - I submitted the application in Sept 2006 but have never received anything in writing. I have been advised verbally that they want to assess me doing the job at my desk in the office!

I am in sales and prior to Maternity leave I managed one account which happened to be the largest account. 2 people covered my maternity leave in addition to doing there normal jobs so could only spend limited time on the account and therefore only did the urgent tasks. Therefore it was decided that it should only take 2 days to do my job. The reality is that when I returned there were a number of problems created but never resolved and the customer being unhappy about the level of service - I have pointed this out to my manager.
As a result it was decided that I had time to manage a further 5 accounts based in Leeds, London, Bristol, Watford and Leicester (I am based in Bolton). If I refused then they couldn't accomodate part time hours as they couldn't afford to employ someone to do the other accounts therefore I would have no job.
The reality is that the original account that I managed before mat leave actually takes most of the week. I did discuss the possibility of taking on maybe one other account but this was refused as my manager disagreed with me.

I have no evidence of other people getting pay rises. However, new people coming into the business will be being paid their current market value which my package is about 6 years out of date! I'm part salary part commission paid but as yet have not had any info regarding commission that I would be paid for the additional accounts.

Sorry for long winded response!

Raise a grievance with your employer. If they are not following statutory procedures, then they need to get their act together. If you do resign as a result of this, their failing to do things by the book could lead you to bringing a claim for constructive dismissal (although I would advise you to take legal advice on this), plus a claim for sex discrimination if they are permitting men to work in one way but not you.

scoot - I can only reiterate what I said previously. This is lousy (and probably unlawful) treatment.

You need professional advice but in the meantime, put a list together of every issue (make seperate headings) and raise the grievance.

Let them get on with it, do what they ask of you with regards to meetings. Hopefully they will cock up even more and give you more ammunition for making a claim. The fact that they are so incompetent will only help you in the long run.

You probably need to accept that this won't be a long term job from now on so just act professionally and do all the right things regardless of how you feel.

Good luck with it, be strong and come back on if you need more advice as things progress.