Hi I’m hoping someone can help me, sorry this will be long but I need advice…
I work for a very well known company in the financial sector, have done for the past 6 years, I am good at my job and have always had a good opinion of my employer, prior to maternity leave i was employed as a ‘team leader’ having 8-10 people reporting into to me. I went on maternity leave in April this year and have had very little contact with anyone from work - no check ups or anything which I thought was odd. In September I was contacted by my manager out of the blue to tell me that the department were restructuring and my role was being absorbed with another and being offered as a promotion (pay rise, more responsibility etc) and that i would have to reapply and interview for my job. There were 2 other back up type roles available I could put a preference in for (both a step down from my current role in responsibility and position etc) however was told if I didn’t not apply I would essentially be demoted, thus not being left with much of a choice!
I did as I was told and jumped through the hoops submitting an application and interviewing 5 months postpartum. I was offered no support or access to my work laptop during this time which holds all of my data and analytics that could have supported my interview and really struggled with this having to muddle through with what I could remember!
Low and behold a few weeks later I find out that I have been unsuccessful in the interview only being told I did not ‘sell myself enough’. my issue is that I do not think I have been treated fairly by my employer due to me being on maternity leave - I’ve been pinned against other candidates (all my peers who I do the same job as) who are in the mix and know what is going on at work and have ample access to resources to support their applications, my situation and experience in my job has not been taken into consideration either, additionally to this I’ve come to find out from a friend that out of all my peers who applied for the roles available I was the only one not to be offered the promotion, even the colleague covering my maternity leave has been promoted above me. Should I be essentially forced to interview for my own role while on maternity leave? And is it right that I’ve now been stripped of my team and previous responsibilities while off? I feel a bit helpless with it all. TIA!