"Stealing" colleague's job after her maternity leave

[JollieJullie]

I am a Comms Director in a big multinational company. My closest colleague and friend is also a Comms Director, but we have different areas of focus.

Her role was created a year ago mainly to manage a key, complex project between Dec to June. When she got the role she was 3 months pregnant and went on mat leave in November right before the big project was kicked off.

As a result, I took over her key project with my team (on top of our usual area of focus) and we are delivering it in late June. She will be back in July.

I just spoke to our manager who has decided that I should continue managing her previous area of focus (on top of mine) in an expanded role with more seniority and more compensation, while my colleague will come back to a different role looking after something totally unrelated. Her seniority and pay will be unaffected, but I think she will be really pissed off with the company and with me.

I am concerned she will feel like I stole her job which she loved so much and I feel really conflicted about this situation my manager has created. When I raised my concerns I was told by our manager and HR that my colleague knew that the key project in her role happened in Dec-June and she decided to take 8 months of leave in spite of that, so she should be ready to be flexible about what she comes back to. I was told that I can't really refuse the additional responsibilities.

What are your thoughts on this? How can I best handle the situation with my colleague when she is back?

Many thanks for your comments!

Why would that be? It is not like being a Comms Director automatically removes all ethical and professional doubts from someone's mind?

She took the role knowing she would be on maternity leave at a crucial time in the project- thar decision is on her, not you.
The company has recognised your good work and are promoting you because of that, again not your fault.
If colleague is unhappy her beef should be with the company, not you.

If she does say anything to you, do not apologise. Tell her she needs to take it up with bosses as you didn't make any of the decisions.
In any event, surely she can't be dull enough to think she will come back to the same role knowing the project she was brought in to manage finished a month before her return?!

She doesn’t have the right to return to the exact same job. She has been off more than 26 weeks. She is entitled to a job on the same terms, which she has.

The project is now finished. And started while she was off.

You took on additional work while she was off and this has led to your promotion. She is coming back to a job at the same level.

What would she expect, a promotion for a project she did do?

Neither the company or you have done anything wrong

So you seek professional and ethical advice from anonymous posters, no idea of their background or experience on mumsnet?

In my last three jobs the maternity provisions in my contract have always been along the lines that if you take up to 6 month leave you are guaranteed to come back to the same job/team.

If you take more than 6 month you come back to the same type of job (ie pay & seniority) but not necessarily your old job/team.

I think that is pretty standard (in the UK).

As per PPs and my previous post I’d check with HR to see what the mat leave policy states. If she seems to think she’s coming back to the same job then perhaps there’s something in the policy to that effect - in which case your manager may be breaching policy and you may decide you don’t want to get caught up in that. You might also want to check with them to see what the policy is around closing off an existing role and then changing it when someone is off on mat leave - should it be advertised, should there be employee consultation etc?

Once you’re armed with the facts then make your decision.

Sounds as if the business has decided that it only wants one comms director and you’re it. That’s all you need to concern yourself with.

Do not do this, ridiculous advice and potentially very dangerous for you.

Surely she has the right to come back to the same job after mat leave?
This happened to my colleague and she took our employers to tribunal and won a substantial amount of money.
Ok that particular project isn't there for her to work on anymore but it sounds like they are changing the whole focus of her role, while giving you her previous role. That is illegal!

When are work going to tell her about her amended role? My concern, in terms of the friendship, would be that it'll look like you sat on this info and didn't give her a heads up to enable her to do something about it. But I don't think you can tell her about this as it'll affect your job. I'd ask if they can tell her now.

Ultimately, it's really shit for her (unless the new area might be of interest to her?) but it's not actually your fault and you do have to do what's right for your career assuming the company aren't actually breaking the law here. I'd be prepared that you may lose your friendship though.

Please do not do this!! Stay neutral, do not get involved unless you want to affect your prospects within your role/company.

OP - your colleague went on maternity leave in November which was a month before her project/focus was due to start. You were there to oversee this project from December to June on behalf of your COMPANY, not your colleague and she is returning after maternity leave in July after the project is finished. She can’t expect to be still working on this project after it’s finished.

From your OP I understand her role no longer exists (as it has been combined with your role) so the company will find her a suitable alternative role on the same rate of pay. It’s not your fault. If she is a good enough colleague (and friend) she will understand all of this.

After 26 weeks mat leave you don’t have a right to come back to the same job. You need to be on the same terms and can’t be worse off. I don’t think a lot of people realise you can be off more than 26 weeks and come back to a new role. But on the same terms.

But it doesn’t have to be the same role. Especially where they have been changes. The project was done and delivered by op while she was out of the business. That’s a big change.

It depends I think. You may not have the right to your old job back - you may only have the right to a job that fits your skills with the same T&Cs. It depends on what their may leave policy says. It sounds like they’ve effectively closed off her role here to her and given it to someone else on enhanced T&Cs, so effectively it still exists and they’re prepared to pay someone else an enhanced salary for doing it - but not giving the friend an opportunity to apply. That might get them into hot water - I’d be wary of getting caught up in that at this stage.

And this thread is precisely why the comms director of a big multinational should not pursue ethical and professional guidance from a group of entirely anonymous mumsnetters.

In your role, outside of your organisation, surely you must have ex colleagues, friends in similar professional roles that you can bounce ideas off and engage with on matters such as these?

If her original role was project based and the project is now finished, then her role doesn't exist so she can't come back to it.

If you are in the end stages of the project and rolling it into the bau phase then there's a clear commercial decision to keep you in place until that happens.

However, if the project role is very much still a large part of your responsibilities then I think the company is on a sticky wicket and risking a grievance or even a constructive dismissal claim.

However, NONE OF THAT IS YOUR FAULT. You'll have to have a grown-up conversation with your friend when she comes back, it will be awkward, but if she starts accusing you of 'stealing' her job then she needs to reset herself.

She also may want to come back p/t and already told hr that, but they're (rightly) not sharing that with you - could that be a possibility?

That all said, I tend to agree with the pp who said this is not a company which is really bought into pregnancy and how to handle employee pregnancy properly. They're stitching your friend up as they stitched you up with the extra work. You also absolutely are allowed to refuse a promotion! It might hurt your career trajectory but no-one can compel you to accept.

I would take this moment - newly promoted, with a big successful project under your belt - and use it to find a new job. They're showing you what they think of women who take 'leave'

As a side note I'd defo take all this on board if you're planning on having kids. I'd also hope you're being well compensated - because she presumably had an entire salary when doing this role so how much are the company saving by you doing it? Don't let your ethical concerns rule out actually deciding is what they're offering good enough.

If they’ve given her work to you because she went on maternity leave, and are not giving it back when she returns, then she has a very strong legal claim to sue them 😬 that isn’t particularly your problem but it would be very very dumb of the company to do that.

Put your concerns (gently but clearly) in writing to your boss is my advice to you and get a written reply as well if possible.

No, this change will result in no immediate savings, only extra the cost of the OP's pay rise. The management originally created a permanent role not a temporary project management role so they expected to have to pay for 2 independant roles after the initial project finished.

Before:
OP
Manager paid £££
Friend
Manager paid £££

After
OP
Senior Manager paid £££+£
Friend
Manager paid £££

So for the same staff it costs more.

The OP did both jobs and would (likely) have been due an appropiate pay rise to reflect her personal performance. Keeping her skills in-house and recognising her input would also merit a promotion.

The OP saved the company 8 months pay for a project manager and delivered the project.

But the reorganisation was not based on future cost savings.

It’s a difficult one, and I know you don’t have the right to the exact same role necessarily. However this was the exact same situation with my colleague. She took a full year off yet when she wanted to return, the projects that would normally have been associated with her role had been given to her maternity cover. They offered her a different role, same pay, same overall level of responsibility, but it wasn’t the same role (because that had been combined with another role and given to her mat leave cover). The tribunal found in her favour so it does seem like the company could be in hot water.
Never mind the fact that there was a promotion opportunity and she was denied to possibility of applying for it because she was on maternity leave. That’s dodgy ground as well.

@Neverreturntoathread

You're talking bollocks.

Management or Op have done nothing wrong.

I had a baby 2 years ago and the policy is if you take up to 6 months you return to the same role, if you take longer than 6 months you aren't entitled to having the same role back but they can employ you on similar pay/conditions.

Wish people would actually look this stuff up before giving misinformation.

In this case she's taken 8 months so not entitled to return to the same job.

But op isn’t pregnant or subject to maternity policy

why would she get involved at all?

@JollieJullie you’ve stepped up and done the additional job and seen the process through

your colleague knows the law, will know that the job is at same level as previous but she’s not entitled to expect it to remain as before

HR will explain this to her. Leave them to do that. You’d be on a total hiding To nothing to get involved

i am guessing this was down to your friends projects actually just being on going work

That there were significant changes (as that’s part of the guidelines and in op case the project was started and delivered, which are big changes)

or your friend was off less than 26 weeks or it was down to them giving the whole role to the mat leave cover and your friends new role, not being within the guidelines.

I think you might be missing quite a big detail (not intentionally) and that will be why she won.

I know she isn’t - I haven’t said anything to the contrary. She would be caught up in it if the mat leave policy had been breached, the friend decided to take out a grievance or take it to tribunal, and the OP had accepted a new role that was formed on the basis of something that wasn’t allowed in law or as per their mat leave policy.

What’s your experience in a senior position role out of interest?