Help - Discrimination while on maternity leave

[foxcub]

I would be really grateful for some advice on this.

I am so livid I can hardly type!!

There are two issues:

1 My boss said he was "suprised I earn so little" and said I should ask for more (implying male peers on the same scale earn more, although I do a different job to them). This was while recruiting my maternity cover and discussing what pay we should offer my (male) cover. I have since put in a pay claim on the basis I am taking on new responsibilities (which I am - a whole new area of work has been added to my post).

This was in January. I put a strong case together and gave it to my boss in writing. I have since chased it several times and have been on maternity leave since the end of Feb. My boss refuses to respond to my e-mails. I have e-mailed Head of HR a month ago and she said she'd get back to me and hasn't.

I asked my boss what my maternity cover is being paid and he would only tell me verbally (he verbally told me its the same as me, but I'm unsure whether he's telling the truth or why wouldn't he want to respond in writing?)

In addition I didn't get my April 2007 pay rise, which is made up of an inflation linked rise and a performance bonus relating to 2006/7. I have now received this but had to complain twice in order to get them to pay me.

2 There is not enough space in our office due to expanding teams. A number of options have been proposed, to create more space , including utilising meeting rooms, hot desking and moving staff to another part of the building. Before I went on maternity leave, a male colleague X who is leading the "office seating" project joked that once I went on maternity leave he would "stitch me up" by moving my team to another location - i.e. I wouldn't be able to object, as I am on maternity leave.

My Mat Cover tipped me off two weeks ago that X was pushing a proposal to get my team moved in my absence. My cover has raised objections but at the end of the day he is a temp and is not that bothered either way. I e-mailed my boss on Friday 1 June with my concerns and specifically asking that I be included in the decision making, as I am returning to work and such a radical decision should not be made without my input. My boss has refused to respond to my e-mail. He has also ignored two messages I left on 4 and 5 June asking him to call me.

I have just found out that on 5 June, my boss pushed through a proposal at a management team meeting that my team should be moved out!!!!! This is after me contacting him 3 times, asking to be involved in the decision. The "office seating" was not even on the meeting agenda, so he has clearly stitched me, but pushing it through under AOB.

I feel extremely anxious and am starting to feel ostracised. My boss refuses to communicate with me.

I can contact HR but the Head of HR is personal friends with X, and they go on hols together!!!

help - advice needed.

I am planning to return to work in Septmeber.

sorry this is so long BTW

Thanks for all yor support everyone, I really appreciate it. I'm not a litigious employee and love my current job, but noe feel very isolated by my male colleagues as they clearly only have contempt for me.

Sponge - I was thinking of going to GP actually as I know I will lose sleep over this in the next few weeks.

I can either:

call Head of HR and trust her judgement to give me some advice (bearing in mind her role is to protect her employer and she's chums with X - she is also a great head of HR - very strong on equalities)

Write a letter asking for a meeting saying I'm thinking of taking a grievance/think I have grounds for empl. trib

Just bung in a greivance. This would be a shock to them as I have always had great vibes there and am a senior manager i.e. they would not expect me to take out a greivance. This option would mean I burn some boats. ATM I feel as though those boats are treating me with contempt though...

I'm not sure which option is best.

being cynical i would make sure you have all the evidence in your hands before you raise a formal complaint - things have a habit of disappearing. I would certainly not raise your concerns before you have your case pulled together.

from what you've said, i don't think this is a recoverable situation - it sounds like the company have treated you appallingly and there has been a breakdown of trust. I think your option is to leave with as much cash as possibe and a great reference. go and work somewhere where you will be appreciated.

I think thoughts/threats of tribunal are hasty and too soon. grievance is a much better way of dealing with it. How about a compromise and ring up HR woman and say you are so angry about your treatment that you will be raising a grievance unless there is something she can say/do to resolve the situation.

her job btw is looking after the company but part of that is ensuring that employees are treated fairly in order not to expose the business to this kind of risk. So it is very much within her remit to work with you in resolving it.

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Terrible

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I had an issue when I was on maternity leave about 18 months ago where my employer was discriminating against me in favour of male colleagues and like you I had a number of things either in writing or verbally which backed me up.

Like you I tried to deal with it myself but got no where and it was only when I put in the hands of a professional in my case a union that I started to get somewhere. They passed me on to an employment solicitor when after writing a formal letter to my boss about the issues I had and a deadline for a response, I had no reply. The solicitor was fab and only had to write on letter to bring the issue to a head.

My advice to you is that what ever happens pass it over to someone who is not emotionally involved. Inn my case it took the edge off my job and took most of the enjoyment away from it. I went back to work and now do the bear minimum. In fact there is a promotion coming up which would mean I would have to deal on a day to day basis with my boss.....at the momnet I can keep them at arms length....and I am not sure if I should go for it even though all my colleagues want me to.

Can't help at all but try to pass it on. And in a years time you will realise that it has changed you!

I'd have an informal chat with the head of HR - the fact she's a friend of your boss may work to your advantage. Tell her you're not the sort of person who would want to make a fuss unnecessarily, but this does seem like discrimination and you're peturbed that your boss hasn't answered your letters. She's bound to warn him that his behaviour is out of order, and you can see what happens before deciding whether you need to go down a formal rotue. hth.

Did you phone your friend's husband for legal advice. I think that sounds like a good idea. He will know exactly what you can do and where it might lead with the different options that you have. If you do go see him, you will need to bring all your papers with you, contract, emails etc.

I was going to call him today but he was up in London, so will be calling him over the weekend.

Thanks for your advice - any more comments are also very welcome, as I am in a dilemna whether to just write a stern letter or whether to put in a greivance (i.e. go straight to formal procedures). I don't feel I can talk to Head of HR as she will tip off X and he will start to cover his tracks. he already has in fact, so I need to decide what to do and do it on Monday.

I think my friends DH will be able to tell me whether its a strong sex discrimination case or not, which will influence how I proceed.

I am very grateful for all comments though. BTW my Home Insurance does provide legal cover for employment diputes, but not sure whether I have to use their solicitors or whether I could use my friend's DH as he's supposed to be good.

I don't think it would harm your potential case to write a formal letter first, stating your concerns and indicating that you will have no option but to implement more formal procedures if you don't receive a satisfactory response. This will win you brownie points in the eyes of HR / tribunal as shows you to be a very reasonable employee willing to pursue all avenues to resolve the issues rather than jumping straight into formal route. Sounds like your boss is useless but copy the HR woman in and she might spot the danger to the company and get sorting stuff to your satisfaction! Good luck with the lawyer - free advice v useful even if you ultimately have to use someone else. Keep the faith and don't let them screw you over!!

Foxy: I have the Tee shirt on this one, as you know.
you have a clear case for discrimination. Decide now if you want to go back there as this will colour your actions.

1. If you do wnat to go back and believe this is just yr boss being an arse and that he will return to normal after a good kicking and you can work together without ill feeling: email him, cc to HR stating your case in friendly terms, but setting out what you want as a solutioon, and a timescale for a reply. Clarify how his actions have made you feel and teh effect it is having on your enjoyment of your maternity leave, whehn you feel vulnerable for being away from work anyway.

2. If not the above - go for it full throttle - there is no other way. A half hearted attempt to do this friendly will not solve anything and will frustrate you further, and let him get away with it. Contact Camilla Palmer of Palmer Wade solicitors: she is peofessional and exactlyw hat you need right now being teh balance netween legal advise and sholder to cry on. And she gets great results in a friendly professional manner i.e. not scarey. I suspect one letter from her will share teh crap out of work and hopefully they will jump back into line. But you will find it incredibly hard to go back to work after you take out a formal grievance.

I am happy to talk through teh process/ be a shoulder to cry on. And I make great coffee [wink}

and check your house and car insurance as they normally have legal cover (I didn't, being too mean to pay the £20 premium )

I am in HR (when not on mat leave!) and agree with the comments about getting your facts together and putting them in a succinct and rational format. If you don't wish to immediately raise a formal grievance, you can set out all the info you have in a letter - employers have an obligation to respond to any form of complaint, and indeed, any savvy HR professional will consider whether such a letter is a grievance anyway, even if you do not write 'I wish to raise a grievance.' This approach may give you the advantage to see how they respond before you commit to a formal route (your head of HR may well decide that your complaints constitute a grievance and start the process anyway) - and if you don't get a response, then as a previous comment suggested, you ensure that your communications appear calm, rational and non-emotional. I know this will be difficult, but having been on the receiving end of grievance letters, I strongly suggest that you stay as unemotional as you can, and set out the facts as you are aware of them, and why you believe you are being discriminated against. Detailing every single tiny act that has aggravated you may get it out of your system, but it won't necessarily support your case - sometimes, it can seem that claimants have developped paranoia/conspiracy theories over quite simple and straightforward matters that are not part of the issue. By all means, write everything down - but sense check & edit it before you send. It may help to think 'what would a complete stranger make of this case?' - or indeed, give it to a stranger to read!
From the info you have posted, it does seem that there is a discrimiation case to answer - especially around the pay issue and the lack of consultation about changes taking place in your absence. BTW - it could be possible that your mat cover is paid differently to you, which may not necessarily be discriminatory - there may be an argument about finding the necessary skills in the market place for a specific time period, at short notice etc etc. Just warning you that they may have a reasonable defence for that. However, your directly comparable peer group (ie everyone who has exactly the same T&Cs, title, responsibilities etc) should not be different - and if the only different quality is that they are male, this is clearly not defensible. I hope this helps, feel free to post again with any specific questions, I will try my best to help.

Good luck.

Louise, I take your point about not going into irrelevany details.

Is it worth mentioning other incidents, e.g.

On my maternity card, where everyone wrote lovely messages like "enjoy your new baby", my boss wrote "can't wait to see you back in a size 10"

All the staff awaydays are at very "male" venues, such as Rugby Grounds, racing Tracks etc.

One awayday I could not attend as it was a long distance and overnight (I have young children who I need to drop off and collect each day). In my absence, the team (i.e. my boss and my peers) "decided" to change my JD by voting to add a whole new area of work. I had no prior consultation and was merely told by my boss afterwards "at the awayday we decided you will be responsible for this area of work". I was a bit taken aback, but thought it would mean a pay enhancement - but my pay claim (which is based on this new area of work being added) has been ignored.

There has been langauge in management team like "up and down like a whore's drawers", and "tart". My colleague (the only other woman in the team) was so humiliated by this language she said she couldn't speak for the rest of the meeting, being the only womman. My boss was chairing.(I was not present)

..or perhaps they want to get rid of me 'cos I can't spell LOL!!!

I would say that the away day incident of 'deciding' your new role should be included - it is unclear to me how your job could be amended without your input; it would be surprising to me that your manager could make a unilateral decision, much less that your peers would be involved in something that affects you, but you yourself are not consulted.

I would personally say that you would, at this stage, not benefit from adding the details of the meeting attended by your colleague. As much as this incident suggests that this is typical behaviour, you were not at the meeting, so it is difficult to see how this would fit into your personal experience of discrimination. However, you may wish to consider naming your colleague as a witness if/when you raise a formal grievance - you should be asked if there is anyone that you want the investigator to talk to, you could include her at this point.

Similarly, whilst the comments in the card are inappropriate, my personal view is that I would detail this in a formal grievance statement, rather than an initial letter.

At this point, I would add that you should try and do everything that you can via informal/formal company routes before calling upon an employment lawyer. This does change the dynamic of your relationship with people in the organisation. If - God forbid - you end up in a tribunal, the company's aim will be to show that their actions were reasonable in view of your complaint and the actions you took. Tribunals also look to see if you have followed all the available internal routes to address the problem - so whilst you should not be fobbed off by half hearted attempts to 'shut you up', you should have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. I would expect one of the first questions from HR to be: what is a good outcome for you? If you can spell out exactly what you consider to be a successful outcome (bear in mind that they probably won't send your boss to the firing squad ) then it will be easier all round to know if they have answered your complaint, and of course, if there is anything further you want to do.

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