Possible maternity discrimination

[BrownBirdsFly]

Hi,

I’m hoping the hive mind can help me decide if I have a case for maternity discrimination.

I was employed on a temporary two year contract - this was a funded post. Another employee from the organisation moved across onto this contract too at the same time as me and they also employed another 10 or so people, although they started a few months later. We were all on the same temporary two year contract.

I got pregnant and my contract came to an end 9 months into my maternity leave. I was told by email by my line manager that I have a job available after I asked for clarity about what would happen. I was emailed by HR and offered a one month extension while they ‘consulted’ with me.

I’m due back to work in two weeks. I’ve had no new contract, not been informed of my shift pattern or pay. The other person who was taken on the same contract at the same time is still working the same job.

If they don’t offer me a position is this maternity discrimination as there is clearly a role available as my colleague is still working despite his contract ending the same time at mine?

Any insight or advice really appreciated xx

I don't see why it is maternity discrimination. You don't have the right to return to the same job at this stage anyway, and that is a job that no longer exists because your contract has terminated. They seem to have started to discuss your return, but I am afraid that things are often derailed right now due to the pressures in workplaces and juggling many other things. So far, there's no evidence that they've done, or intend to do, anything wrong. You need to contact HR again and ask them what you should do on your return. It's no excuse for dropping the ball, but many workplaces are really struggling to manage with this pandemic.

I agree that I don’t think this is necessarily maternity discrimination but simply due to temporary less than 2 year contracts. Add COVID into the mix and, well, things get confused.
Ring or email them back.

Thanks for your replies. I though because they’d kept my colleague on in the same role (they have work available and will now be funding the role themselves) and not done the same with me this could be seen as discrimination.

I will get back in touch with HR X

If your colleague already worked in the org and was moved into this role,. originally on 2 year contract,.it could be that they're a permanent employee. If there is work to do they'll keep the permanent person rather than someone just hired on contract. Makes sense and doesn't sound like discrimination.

However ... if you completed 2 full years of employment and a permanent position is not offered this becomes a redundancy situation, not a standard end of contract. This means maternity ‘protection’ applies. I would contact ACAS if I were you to get some specialist advice.

@Littlegoth I have completed two years full service and the one month extension takes me over that. I read that this is a redundancy situation also from reading online but I’m no expert and the responses have been mixed. I am happy if we are all let go due to funding ending but it seemed unfair if some were kept on and I wasn’t. I think you’re right I will contact ACAS for proper advice.

Thank you all!

They are not obliged to extend your contract if the work is not there, but if they don't extend it, your pregnancy/maternity leave cannot be a factor. So not extending it would have to be for completely unrelated reasons.

Whether keeping your colleague on and not you would be fair depends very much on the circumstances. If the work reduced to an extent they only needed one of you, and you're doing the same work, there should have been a fair process to decide which.

How many months were you on maternity leave during your two year contract?

Actually if there was only one position, maternity protection would have legally obliged them to offer it to the OP...

Unless the other person was a permie already of course. He wouldn’t have been ‘at risk’ as redundancy situation wouldn’t have applied to his contract.

Really? Despite the fact that her colleague has probably gained approximately a years worth of extra experience in the role (bearing in mind it was a two year fixed term contract for both of them)?
I'm not disputing this, btw, I just find it hard to believe that the pregnancy protection extends to after the contract expires?

@Littlegoth

Actually if there was only one position, maternity protection would have legally obliged them to offer it to the OP...

No. The additional protection only extends to alternative vacancies. If there's a headcount reduction from two down to one, they are not expected to exclude the woman on maternity leave from selection, but if she is selected fairly for redundancy, with her employment ending during her maternity leave, and there is an alternative vacant post, she should be offered it.

If both these posts were made redundant and the extension of the colleague's contract related to a different role that would also have been suitable for the OP, then she should have been offered it.

Does it really work like that? I know you can't be unfairly discriminated against (and rightly so), but I hadn't realised the employer was obliged to positively discriminate for, purely on the grounds of maternity protection.
Interesting.

Thank you for all the messages. To clarify, me and the colleague were both on the temporary contract for two years as it was a training role with funding. He continued on a permanent contract for another separate role within the organisation E.g. 15 hours a week in permanent role, 15 hours a week in training role. He continued to do this permanent role before during and now after this temporary training contract, so nothing has changed with that.

We both completed the training but 14 months into the two years I went off on maternity leave. Our contracts both ended at the same time and he has continued to work in the role and they have stated (in writing) that they intend to keep the role within the organisation.

I honestly don’t think there is any malice, I think with COVID etc everything has got a bit confused. But my question was, can they just end my role without consultation etc and my colleague continue in the role. Or is that discrimination.

@Thisismytimetoshine

Does it really work like that? I know you can't be unfairly discriminated against (and rightly so), but I hadn't realised the employer was obliged to positively discriminate for, purely on the grounds of maternity protection. Interesting.

Yes, although it's only in very limited circumstances, and as I say, relates only to new roles, not to reductions in headcount in existing ones.

"But my question was, can they just end my role without consultation etc and my colleague continue in the role. Or is that discrimination."

It depends. Is the work there or not? If there is a reduction in work and they only need one of you, they need to conduct a process to determine which of you stays. That can still happen, obviously - you are both still employed at the moment. If they go from needing two in the role to only needing one and they get rid of you purely because you happen to have gone on maternity leave, yes that would be discrimination.

Thank you. There is work there for both of us. In fact an independent review recommended recruiting a few extra full time positions. Your answers have helped give me some clarity and like I said and a previous poster mentioned I think the ball has just been dropped with COVID etc and things have got a bit lost.