I think my job has been taking on maternity leave?

[Amtheyest17]

So will try and keep this brief. Before I went on Maternity leave a consultant was bought in to the business, he was my counterpart and we would work together on certain projects. I.E I own stream A he owns stream B - if stream A & B collide then we collaborate. When I went on Mat leave they got a mat cover who was too junior to do the role and the consultant (James) basically took on my role and my mat cover reported in to him. I’ve now been told that when I go back I’ll be reporting in day to day to James and I’ll have my work stream back but James will sign it all off rather then the director I will be reporting in to for HR things (because James is a consultant). I’ve basically worked out that my role is seriously underpaid for what my job is on paper and my experience. My payrise has been flat out denied and I’m assuming because now this is technically in the company structure a more junior role. Nothing has officially been said about it though - is there anything I can do? Does this sound wrong legally in any way? Thank you!

Oooooo. Tricky. Is it that James has been given a promotion and you are now reporting to him or he has taken in some of your work and you have being demoted (but not in terms of pay).

They can argue it makes sense that one person has oversight and accountability over both streams for better collaboration and better outcomes, but if you lose overall autonomy as a result then that's a bit shit. Also they need to offer you your old job back on the old terms otherwise I think it's against the law.

Is this a permeant arrangement or something temporary until you're back up-to-speed on things again?

You asked for a pay rise whilst on maternity leave?

How long have you been off? Under 6 months and you go back to the exact job role. 6 to 12 months it's the same or equivalent role but same pay. Otherwise it's discrimination. This is for teaching though I'm not sure if it's universal but it should be

@DogInATent

So in James’s mind it’s temporary, he’s actually keen to get back to what he’s been hired to do. But in reality it likely won’t work like that, he’s really upped his profile since I’ve been out of the business and I think it will be difficult to change that perception that he’s the owner of both streams! He’s happy for me to action my role as before with little input but then the problem comes in that I’m actually not being paid adequately for it…

I did! I got some intel that the whole team had been given pay bumps (apart from me) and I was encouraged by HR to get my request in because the budgets were being done that will come in to effect once I’m back.

@declutteringmymind So he hasn’t been promoted but I’ve been told he’s now working at a ‘head of’ level but because he’s a consultant there’s loads of rules like no direct reports etc due to the promotion I will technically lose autonomy

@NewKidOnTheBlock99
If James becomes too embedded there's a risk he'll fall foul of IR35, so I can well imagine he's quite keen to get back to how things were.

If everyone has been given an across the board pay rise the you are entitled to receive that. Contact the ACAS advice line and/or the charity Working Families, they lots of information on the website.

It sounds like you have 2 issues. The change of role although it doesn't seem that way - he's happy to let you do all of it as you used to and take the credit.

The other is pay. That you feel that you are not being paid fairly for the role. I'd be incline led to ask them if they are not giving you a pay rise like others because you have been on maternity. That might clinch it for you.

I'd be incline led to ask them if they are not giving you a pay rise like others because you have been on maternity.

There's only one legal answer to that question.

You need ACAS and Pregnant then Screwed.

As a pp said depending if you take 6 months Mat leave or more impacts on your rights. However, in both cases you are entitled to the same or equivalent role in terms of responsibility etc. So moving your post down the hierarchy and giving some of it to another employee (a man) are grounds for discrimination.

The pay aspect is separate and I see 2 issues, one is the annual pay award the other is paying you a market rate for your role.