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Post maternity discrimination - help?

3 replies

Dondie · 25/03/2018 22:56

I have my appraisal on Tuesday and I don’t know whether to bring up the following that I’ve experienced since I got back from maternity leave. I’ve called Acas and they say I could have a case but would have to raise my issues internally first. So here goes:

I was and still am the only female manager to have a baby. I had a team of 3 pre Mat leave. When I returned after 9 months (when SMP stopped) my department was split in two. One of my staff was made a manager and kept one member of staff and I kept the other. We are the only two departments with two people in. They changed my job title without my consultation. My member of staff quit within weeks as she was upset the other person was made manager and not her. The company started looking for someone else (I had to ask to be involved or would have just been handed someone new). The new member of staff is great but work have revoked a lot of my managerial tasks. I am no longer in charge of their salary or bonuses or promotions. I basically just sign off their annual leave. Pre mat leave I had full responsibility for all my staff including all the above. I raised this at the time and have an email from the MD saying “it’s not my business”. The new other manager who used to be my staff added insult to injury when he let slip in a conversation that the MD had told him my salary! I didn’t push it at the time as the MD (who’s my boss) had been vile to me since i got back, ignoring me and asking other staff to ask me for info so he didn’t have to speak to me directly and giving me tasks (via his PA so nothing in writing) then sending me nasty emails copying in half the company asking why I’ve done XYZ. The offices have also had a revamp and EVERY other manager except me has maintained their own office but I’ve been chucked out into the sale office. It’s really noisy and busy and I manage millions of pounds worth of stock so could do with somewhere quieter.

The MD has thawed in the last 8 months and we are on better terms but I’m still unhappy about how I’ve been treated and want to raise it, I also want to be able to manage my only member of staff properly.

The only reason I can think for my treatment is that I got the MD in “trouble” a few years back. I had an appraisal with him and negotiated a larger salary. Months later he made a comment to me that he got in “loads of trouble” about it. I presume with the other director or the chairman as they are the only other people who know salaries.

From an outside perspective should I raise this or just let it go? I am trying to find another job but I live rurally and am quite specialised so it’s not easy. I’d don’t want to let to go but realistically what are my options? I should add our HR department are useless and you can gauge how he company feel about women by the lack of ANY sanitary provision.

OP posts:
flowery · 26/03/2018 17:15

"The only reason I can think for my treatment is that I got the MD in “trouble” a few years back. I had an appraisal with him and negotiated a larger salary. Months later he made a comment to me that he got in “loads of trouble” about it. I presume with the other director or the chairman as they are the only other people who know salaries"

Well obviously that doesn't make it justifiable but if you think that's the reason I'm struggling to see where the maternity discrimination element comes in?

It's also not clear from your post when all this happened, as you talk about the MD "thawing" in the last 8 months. Does that mean this was all before that?

Dondie · 26/03/2018 17:34

I went back to work in June 16 and since about sept 17 the md has been better.

The thing about getting him in trouble I mentioned more as an insight into how his mind works rather than justification for his actions. Regardless of that though I’m treated significantly differently post maternity than pre. The md has thawed in the sense that he’s no longer hostile to me directly but all the other things remain unchanged.

OP posts:
flowery · 27/03/2018 12:21

Ok well in answer to your question, yes I think you should raise it but I think you've left it very late to do so.

In terms of a legal case for discrimination, the time limit for bringing a claim is 3 months after an incident or the last in a series of incidents. I think considering bringing a legal case for maternity discrimination almost two years after you came back from maternity leave isn't probably sensible.

You say you raised some of the things at the time they happened, and were just told it wasn't your business. The time to consider taking it further was then really, not several months down the line.

I would suggest you raise the concerns you have now with a view to getting them changed, so if something is happening which is meaning you can't manage your member of staff, point that out and request a change. That type of thing.

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