Maternity discrimination?

[BasalGanglia]

I'm currently on long term sickness from work. I was 19 weeks pregnant when my uterus ruptured causing a massive bleed and subsequent cardiac arrest and loss of the baby.

I spent a month on ICU and the past 9 months recovering at home having community rehab for a hypoxic brain injury due to the shortage of oxygen to my brain for the 17 minutes I was 'down' for.

During my time off my manager left so my sickness absence meetings were taken over by her boss. I asked about when she would be replaced and indicated that I probably wouldn't be interested in going for it when the job got advertised.

I've today found out that the job went out in January and no-one told me.

I was wondering if this counts as maternity discrimination even though I'd said I probably wouldn't be interested, and also because the main reason for my long absence became the brain injury?

Hello @BasalGanglia , I’m so sorry about baby loss and the impact it’s had on you and your health.

I don’t know a lot about this, but thought it worth sharing this definition I’ve learned from mumsnet about what we’re entitled to after loss of a pregnancy, it’s on the Tommy’s website. I’ve assumed you’re in the UK, apologies if that’s not right. www.tommys.org/baby-loss-support/stillbirth-information-and-support/your-rights-and-benefits-after-stillbirth#:~:text=For%20parents%20who%20lost%20a%20baby%20before%2024%20weeks&text=However%2C%20if%20you%27re%20an,Leave%20immediately%20after%20the%20miscarriage.

“For legal purposes, losing a baby before 24 weeks of pregnancy is known as a late miscarriage. If you have lost your baby before 24 weeks, this means that you won’t qualify for maternity benefits including Maternity Pay. We know this can feel very unfair if you lost a baby very close to 24 weeks of pregnancy, but unfortunately it is the current situation.

However, if you’re an employee, you’re entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (paid for up to 28 weeks depending on your employment contract) and you should be able to get Compassionate Leave.”

That paragraph is specifically about “maternity leave” and “maternity pay” though, not “maternity discrimination”. You could try the Pregnant Then Screwed advice line as well to understand your rights pregnantthenscrewed.com

If you don’t think you would have applied anyway, I would let this go. Do you think they’ve kept the job open that you had? After maternity leave of 6 months and under (the first 26 weeks of leave is called Ordinary Maternity Leave OML), your employer has to give you the same job and job title back if you give the right notice. If more than 6 months leave (subsequent 26 weeks of leave are called Additional Maternity Leave), then you have the right to return to the same job but if not practicable they only have to give you back an equivalent level role. maternityaction.org.uk/advice/pregnant-at-work/# They don’t have to tell you about vacancies for promotion whilst you’re on maternity leave. It might be worth having an open discussion with the line manager currently managing your absence, that you’d like to hear about opportunities in the future and that you’d like to understand the reasoning for not being alerted to this vacancy. It will hopefully lead to open discussion and positive action, whereas the discrimination “why didn’t you” could be stressful for you and unfruitful, as maternity discrimination is really difficult to prove (have some acquaintances gone through it, where their job wasn’t available to come back to so much clearer cut with the current wording of rights).

I’m sorry for your loss and hope your health returns soon and that you are able to return to a job you enjoy and feel valued.

I suppose you arent counted as being off on maternity leave and are on sick leave related to a brain injury. Is there even a timeline on when you think you might be able to return to work?

Sorry for your loss and hope you recover quickly

Thanks for your quick reply and well wishes. It's sick leave I'm on, not maternity so I've still got my job to go back to.

You're right, I'll let it go as I wouldn't have applied anyway but it'd be nice to have been considered, especially as there are only five of us out of a team of 50 that are qualified to apply.

I'm due to return in April so I'll definitely ask why I missed out on the comms in this case.

Maternity discrimination protection kicks in the second you are pregnant and make it known you are, regardless on your entitlement to maternity pay.

I do believe this may be discrimination, whether that's related to your pregnancy or disability. You're best off speaking with an employment solicitor firstly.

Gosh I'm so sorry you've had such a horrendous time. I don't think it's maternity discrimination but they definitely should have contacted you. In my work, when job opportunities are circulated, it specifically says they must be forwarded to those off sick / on maternity, it's also written into those policies.

Is that the case in your work?

Was it advertised externally? We are only expected to forward internal opportunities.

I personally would let it go given you had told them you weren't interested (I don't forward on stuff if the person has said they aren't interested)

Take care op

It sounds like you have had an utterly horrendous time and you have been through a huge amount
💐💐💐

I think you should approach it by working out what gives YOU the best outcome.

do you just want to negotiate a pay out and leave?
do you feel a strong injustice which you want to persue (ie mediation and possibly legal avenues)?
do you want to go back there and continue in your current job?

my boss purposefully waited until I went on mat leave to create and hire for a more senior role. I was informed post fact.
i was raging but ultimately didn’t have the bandwidth for that role and my current role is more compatible with a baby. It has great pay security and benefits so I left it. I’m at peace/happy with my decision even though “he got away with it”

It's the NHS and it was advertised externally.

I'm not going to pursue them for discrimination I don't think, it just irks me that I only found out about it from a friend (not a colleague) so I'd still be none the wiser now.

Hi OP. I'm so sorry for your loss. I wanted to reply as I was in a similar position at the end of last year in that the role I was acting up in was advertised and I wasn't informed. The interviews were on my due date and I felt the same as you, and that essentially I had been denied the opportunity to apply due to being on mat leave. I spoke to an employment lawyer who told me that because the job was advertised externally (nationally), my employer did not legally need to inform me. Had it been advertised internally (ie sent round to all my colleagues) then it may have been discrimination. I was hurt that they didn't consider even letting me know, but similarly to you I'd had an informal conversation on taking the position and stated that I wouldn't want to continue in the role when I returned, so ultimately I knew my feelings weren't really justified - but it stung a bit all the same!

Wishing you all the best with your recovery