Returning from maternity, altered role

[ARealFake]

I don't know where I stand with this, I don't want to rock the boat as I love my job but I'm not going back to the exact same role.

I'm returning from a year's maternity leave next year and I've dropped my hours by one day. I work as a Personal Assistant, my contract says PA to XXX so a specific person. Because of the drop in hours I've been told I cannot go back to the same role, I will be in the same team, the same line manager, the same everything but I will be PA to someone else, I'm not happy about this as have a great relationship with the person I PA to but they want someone full time.

Would you say nothing and see how it goes? My maternity cover is now going to do my job full time, I feel really upset by this.

They will also have altered the other person’s contract to enable OP her desired working pattern. They aren’t a maternity cover anymore and are entitled to the job they have been given.

Yes absolutely, but on the offchance it's not all set in stone yet it's definitely worth asking. In my firm there would probably be a small window of time for change but appreciate not everywhere is the same

Really? You give someone a permanent position. And there’s a small window where you can say ‘I know we agreed you were doing and you signed a contract X job. But your predecessor changed their minds so they are getting your job’

Is that just for Mat leave returners? What about where the predecessor has had a promotion and their replacement has also had a promotion? They should take gen promotion of the second person if the first changes their minds?

OP I really feel for you. Lots of posters missing the point that your work didn’t give you a heads up that your role would be changed if you went to 4 days. That would have given you the chance to look at the pros and cons and feel in control of the next step. So it’s understandable you’re feeling really put out and undervalued and also have a lot of “what ifs?” Flying around in your head and also a sense that they’ve just let someone else take your job which feels really unfair.

I think important to remember that if you had been given the choice, you would have been likely to choose the 4 days option still anyway. As you would have prioritised time with your lovely new baby.

Another way to move forward would be to reframe your employers actions. Yes perhaps they should have consulted you but not doing so might not have come from a bad place at all. The person making the decision could have been unaware that you would particularly mind who you are PA to and they could have seen themselves as being highly accommodating to your part time request. In their heads they may have done a really positive thing for a valued employee, giving you exactly what you asked for and meeting all the needs of the business.

Perhaps by thinking of it this way rather than taking it personally, you can move on and enjoy new role.

If it is really an issue for you then maybe you can discuss with HR? Is there a trusted person who would have an off the record chat with you about your options moving forward? You’ll have to be careful though as you also don’t want word to get out that you’re trying to leave chief YY - as that could make that working relationship awkward.

From the OP

Because of the drop in hours I've been told I cannot go back to the same role, I will be in the same team, the same line manager, the same everything but I will be PA to someone else, I'm not happy about this as have a great relationship with the person I PA to but they want someone full time.

So you were told, before you returned. How/when did you come to know about the change? When discussing which days you would work, when agreeing the changes, or
was it dropped on you a week before Xmas (which makes no difference because it was still before the changes were
effected and you could have voiced your concerns then)?

If Op asked for 4 days but never mentioned wether the person she supports could accept that or ask if it would mean moving, her employer likely thought working 4 days was her main concern.

If they had come back and said ‘yeah 4 days, but X needs 5 so we will need to love you or you need to be working 5 days’ Op could have likely felt they were trying to force her to 5 days without actually turning down her request.

There was no way for them to know it was so important she remained working for the same person, as she, obviously, never mentioned that to them when requesting part time.

So many replies thank you, some really helpful.

To clarify, I was invited in to a meeting to discuss my return to work, I said ideally I would like to go part time but it would depend on the needs of the team, I was not opposed to returning full time but ideally I would do 3 or 4 days. Line manager advised that 3 days would mean I couldn't go back to support CXX. 4 days would be fine and I would return to my exact role. I was then advised 3 weeks before returning having had no contact in the interim, that I would be supporting CYY instead, it was framed to me that CCX said they wanted someone 5 days, it transpires that the maternity cover (who was a previous member of my team, and who was left with no one to support following management changes) and my line manager had a conversation and maternity cover put her parts on and said it would be better for everyone if I supported CYY instead. I was not consulted, I was not involved in any discussion, I was told this is what would happen. I was not offered the opportunity or choice to continue on full time. I was gutted but thought I would try. I've been back to work and it was awful, maternity cover rubbing it in my face, she knows, they all know as I have made it very clear before I left what an important part of my life my job was and who I supported was why.

I have a meeting next week with someone neutral to discuss, but I don't know where I stand. All I know is I'm pissed off and upset.

I apologise if my previous posts were not clear, I have a mental health condition which is affected by change like this and my head has been all over the place.

@ARealFake given your latest update I would be pissed off too! Is chief YY actually a demotion in terms of prestige and future career prospects? Eg were you supporting the CEO and now you’re just supporting Head of People? If so, perhaps you can argue maternity discrimination? Maybe you could speak to pregnant then screwed before your meeting next week to be armed with some info?

Yes it's a demotion, in terms of prestige, and if I went back to my old role the maternity cover would have been given the CYY to support and they wanted to stay with CXX for that reason.

Again apologies it's taken me some time to get some clarity on this given my mental health.

By who I supported I don't mean the person, I mean the role. If said person left I would support their replacement and would still be happy, obviously I'd be gutted they left but I would still enjoy the area of work I was in.

I don’t mean to offend you, but if the CEO you were supporting also felt you had an excellent relationship, surely they’d have insisted on having you back? Would you actually want to work for someone who’d prefer someone else in the role?

I don’t think they’ve acted illegally given your request to return four days, I think they could justify that’s not reasonably practical.

Something that can be quite hard to get your head around when you return to work is that works has moved on - you stepped out but everyone else continued. Coming back and finding that projects aren't at the place you left them etc can be unsettling. In the year you were away the person doing your job will have built up all the experience and the relationship you had with your manager that you had.

Things move on. I'd try and make the most of the new opportunity ahead of you

I suppose this strengthens your case a bit, in that you did clarify in the meeting that returning full-time was still an option for you. What makes it murky is that you didn't pipe up when they came to you with the new set-up three weeks before you return. Why didn't you object then? That would've been the moment when you could've said no, I'll do FT, and they would've had to have given you your old job back. To them, it must look like you happily accepted the new position.

Has your contract been amended to reflect your new role and hours and, more to the point, have you signed it?

OP from your update I’m sorry I have no idea if they’ve acted illegally, I suspect not, but nevertheless that was very underhanded of them to say you could work 4 days for CXX initially but then decide, without consulting you, that actually it’s not possible. If they’d consulted you, you could have decided to work full time or your maternity cover could have been offered the job of PA to YYY 4 days and then 1 day with CXX on your day off. There were more discussions to be had surely before a decision was made. I’m sorry to say but it sounds like your maternity cover has done a good job while you’ve been away and CXX wants to keep them. But it’s been handled really badly I think and I’m glad you’ve got a meeting next week to discuss.

I think if you can prove that they’ve actually demoted you then you will have more of a leg to stand on. Eg if EA to CEO generally is paid X% more so they’ve impacted your future earning potential. Also it’s irrelevant that the CEO liked your maternity cover or didn’t “fight” for you! That doesn’t give them the right to give your job to your maternity cover. I would speak to pregnant then screwed and also see if you can frame the situation as a demotion, and they’ve also gone back on their initial agreement with you that 4 days would be enough to still be EA to CXX.

I disagree, her contracted role is PA to x company, within that role she is aligned to cxx, the person she supports is not contractual, the job role is, if cxx left it wouldn't mean op has to leave, she supports the replacement

Op changed her contact to 4 days meaning as a business they reviewed the needs of senior management and available PA's.
With the additional information I do feel they have been sneaky but they haven't broken the law. Who she supports is down to the business not op.

Over the years of being an EA I've supported teams or people that might be my first choice but my job is EA not EA in HR or EA in Sales. I support where the business needs are

OP best of luck, I feel you are obviously emotional about the change but I can't see they will do anything about it. If the replacement truly is being awful report her, it's possible you are seeing things that aren't there due to being upset about the change

@FredaFox my contact says PA to CXX and is not a support who needs it role. I was employed to support whoever the CXX is.

A colleague has commented on how awful maternity cover person is being to me, she's so manipulative and she gets away with being like it. I wouldn't know where to start in reporting her, plus she and my line manager are close.

So complain about her.
End of the day you changed your contract by changing the days, they haven't been clear which isn't nice but legally they have done nothing wrong

I don't think it matters what your contract said. You took extended ml and are only entitled to an equivalent position as suits the business with reduced hours as requested. If you're graded and paid the same prorata as before it will be tricky to show you have been demoted. Clearly there are issues between you and the cover person. You could raise a grievance if it persists.

@Bookworm1111 I received a letter advising new hours but no contact and I've not signed anything

OK so if you are really keen on being a PA to a CXO which I understand in terms of PA hierarchy then why don't you just offer to go back full time and see what they say?

It's a difficult one. I don't think you can insist on being PA to the same person when you are going down to 4 days. Three full days and two half days sounds ok but I wouldn't opt for it personally. Better to have a whole day off. Shame they won't let you give it a try and see how the four days would work. Or you could go back full time and see how it goes. Has your boss got a new PA now.

I didn't read your last post. Sorry. Sounds like you've been manoevoured out by a schemer. Could your old boss and her be having an affair. I would smell a rat here. You should have been given the chance to go full time instead of losing your previous role. It does sound unfair now you've explained what happened.

But even if you go back full time, you have no right for exactly the same role, i.e. PA to the same person. Your previous boss is probably settled with your replacement after a year and probably doesn't want to change again anyway. As others have said, you've breached the six month rule.