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

hi foxie i think any sort of communication with them should really be carefully worded and devoid of emotion. i would steer clear of any communication which can in any way be used/ manipulated against you.

i am not an HR person so i guess someone else has better advice

but along with showing good will i think you should shore up your position with legal advice.
i think they expect you to just go along having given you a token 'listen to'

sad but true i do feel they are very much taking advantage of you not being there, maybe that should be the official angle but i guess it is hard to define the boundaries of what is reasonable behaviour

Bump

May be return to work sooner to deal with it all. Do you really want to work with people like that though? Would you like them to pay you off and get another job or if that happened would you never work in the industry again?

I could get another job but they are few and far between and mostly in east London. This one is well paid and 15 minutes from home! TBH he's being an arsehole and I dodn't see why I should have to leave my job and work the other side of London 'cos he's an arse. I've been there three years and really loved every minute up until now - so I need a solution which enables me to stay but still give hijm the message that he cannot crap all over me like this.

not sure she's get much of a pay-off Xenia after 3 yrs and in a quasi-voluintary sector (not sure if thats accurate description foxie). I would defintiely proceed with the grievance Foxie use words like "disappointing response" a lot...

Well I've written to HR saying how dissappointed I am as I was invited to a meeting to resolve matters and avoid a grievance and my boss is not honouring what was agreed in that meeting.