Losing a client after maternity leave

[duckoutofwater]

So, I am returning to work after maternity leave. I am returning to the same job, same terms etc, but my role involves advising a number of clients, and one of those clients is being permanently reassigned to the guy covering for me while I was off. Can they do that? How strict is the definition of 'same job'?

How long have you been off?

Well I was out of the office for almost a year, but it was split 25 weeks maternity leave, then a block of annual leave, then a few months of shared parental leave

Have they assigned you a different client instead?

I doubt same job requires the same specific clients. I found many (male) colleagues developed particularly pointy elbows when I was on mat leave.

As long as the role is the same or similar, then the clients are not a fixture of that, at least that's my presumption

Yes, they've given me a different client instead.

Sadly you have confirmed my suspicions. On paper I'm not any worse off, it's more an emotional loss as I've worked with this client for over a decade, so just a bit gutted 😟

Thanks for your replies

Could the client have requested to stay with your colleague?