Is my employer discriminating against me in restructure?

[myturntonamechange]

I'd be grateful if anyone could give me their thoughts on whether my NHS employer is discriminating against me or if I should just leave this. I've spoken to local employment solicitors and they would charge £300-360 just to give me an initial opinion. I can afford this, but not sure if it's worth it if this is a barn door 'no chance'.

I'm an NHS manager with 20 years experience and have recently been demoted with two year pay protection as part of a nationally-mandated restructure of our organisation. I had been told I would be eligible to apply for a similar banded job as my role was not in the new structure, but that changed at short notice and it was given to someone at the same band as me as she is currently on maternity leave.

I am also protected under the Equalities Act as a disabled member of staff as I have long-standing physical health issues. I have significantly greater skills and experience than the person who was given the job and whilst I am pay protected, the letter from HR suggests that I won't benefit from the new national pay deal or the incremental increase that I was due in October 2023 (approx. £10k).

HR told me that they had taken legal advice on their decision and are confident they've done this properly. I feel like I have no option to leave as I don't have the experience to do the work I've been asked to do (which isn't in the new job description) and the demotion is damaging to my professional reputation.

I would pay the lawyer and seek their advice

Agree - you need legal advice.

Are you a member of the union?

Are you in a union?

I work in this field. Often you get opposing risks under the EA. I'd say due to the specific protection for those on mat leave, they are doing the right thing. Sorry.

I agree.

Sadly the being on mat leave puts her first for any redeployment opportunities, DH has been on the other side of this twice but it doesn't sound like this is discrimination against you

Op if this is NHSE please do seek legal advice. I have personal experience of HR giving incorrect info about what legalities surrounding employment.

PPs are correct.

There are specific protections for women in this situation, as set out in the Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999.

Sorry OP, it's awful for you I know.

Have a read up on this and then go and get advice as this info should save you time/money.

Yes, you need bespoke advice.

However, you are up against the rules to prevent maternity discrimination, which says that someone on maternity leave (in a restructuring/redundancy situation) must be offered posts for which they are qualified (regardless of the potential other candidates). They are likely to have acted correctly on that.

Are you looking at a constructive dismissal claim?

This is my gut feeling so thank you for all the replies. It feels a bit Animal Farm that some of us are more protected than others. They are dead set against offering more than the absolute minimum of redundancies which would have been more helpful in this situation.

No reason why they should! That would be an extra and unjustified cost.

No, ICB although I know NHSE have been making a real hash of their restructure.

I’m not in a union, partly because my experience of working with staff side over the years is that the reps are good for hospital/clinical type jobs but not for senior managers.

This morning they’ve also started the consultation for the next restructure. None of us have done any real work in the last year which seems criminal with services under such press.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, OP. It's shit to be made redundant but I agree with the pp that they have probably acted lawfully.

If it helps at all, I was made redundant previously and while it was awful at the time, in hindsight, it was one of the best things that could have happened to me at that point in my career as it forced me to think about what I really wanted from my career... and I'm now much happier doing what I'm doing, for more money than I was getting previously!

Did I read your last paragraph right you have done no real work over the last year ?

@Weedoormatnomore sadly not much useful work although lots and lots and lots of meetings. I’m not the only one whilst other people have been worked to the bone. I’ve lost a lot of respect for our execs and senior managers.

It really would have been more cost effective to offer voluntary redundancy as it would have shortened the process considerably and let the motivated people get on with it. We have to make 30% running costs savings so it would have been better just to have a wholesale clear out.

I also agree that they have acted lawfully, in fact they had no choice but to give the position to the person on maternity leave. Your protected characteristic means you have the right to reasonable adjustments, her protected characteristic means that she has the right to be appointed into a suitable role if it is available.

I also agree. If the other person was on maternity leave and within the first six months of that, then her maternity leave trumps everything. If it was the last six months she had the right to return to a job on the same terms, which equally trumps you. And pay protection for 2 years trumps all legal claims - the law works on the basis that if it doesn't suit you, you have 2 years to get another job.