Is this maternity discrimination ?

[Janch13]

Hello,

Looking for advice/opinions on this...

I have been employed by X company since December 2021. A new starter joined my team in February 2022. This employee was level with me in the organisational structure, we both report into the same manager who is a Global Head of Dept. We often worked together on shared projects, although we have different responsibilities.

I went on maternity leave from May 2023, and returned March 2024. During my leave, a huge company restructure took place with almost every department affected, including mine. My previous manager was laid off, as were multiple people from my team. Me and the colleague that joined after me remain, reporting into a new manager in a different region. I am informed, while on mat leave, that my job title has changed and that I am reporting into this new manager (new to me, not new to the company).

Since my return, I have had very little comms with my new manager, they are on a different time zone to me and seem incredibly busy, usually set as "Do Not Disturb" or offline on Teams. I have not been issued a new job description so I am a bit unclear on what my role is now. I queried this with my new manager and they advised that things are still in motion and we are still figuring things out, etc etc. So I kind of just go with the flow and do whatever is requested of me or comes my way - I am wary of more redundancies so try to make myself useful in whatever capacity I can. Admittedly, I am not super busy but I am looking for things to do and actioning whatever lands in my inbox. I have had a few big projects to work on but once they were completed, I'm looking for bits to do, offer to help colleague as she seems very busy and stretched... colleague lets me know they have been promoted and now have a number of direct reports. They also share with me they have received a pay increase to reflect their new responsibilities. (Fair enough!)

My question is, has colleague been afforded this promotion over me because I was out of the business for 10 months?

How can my title be changed but I am not given much/any direction on what are my new responsibilities.

I feel like I have been left twiddling my thumbs with not a great deal to do while the colleague is super busy and has been promoted with new reports and a pay rise.

Is this maternity discrimination??

Thanks for sharing thoughts and advice.

I am not upset, just a bit perplexed.

NB I maintain a good relationship with colleague, we get along and are similar ages, have common interests. Before I went on mat leave we were "work buddies" and others often referred to us as each other's "partner in crime", I think due to just working together on numerous projects, generally getting along and taking lunches together, sitting next to each other in meetings etc.

Thanks for advice.

Why do you think it's maternity discrimination that someone was promoted and you weren't?

How are promotion decisions usually made? Application and assessment? Automatic based on seniority? Negotiated based on individual factors?

You took more than 6 months maternity leave so you're not entitled to your old job back, just one on no worse terms and conditions. Which they've done.

It does sound rubbish that you've been back about 2 months and haven't had any clarity on your new role. Do you have a HR department you can approach to pin that down?

You would need to ask them why she was promoted and you weren’t given the opportunity to be considered for the role.

ignore the advice from the PP which lacks nuance.

@DownWithThisKindOfThing Thank you, thats kind of why I started this post. Do you think I have grounds to ask them? To be fair, the promotion is much more related to her previous role than my role so it does make sense for her. It's not like they created a new role and gave me/others the chance to apply, they have just taken her existing role and added some other related responsibilities, given her a number of direct reports (because their manager was laid off in the round of redundancies), etc.

I will only ask the question to HR if it seems I have been discriminated against IYSWIM

As your company was massively re structured whilst off I'd be inclined to say no as everything has changed not just your role. However if you feel the role should have been advertised out then yes that is discrimination as when on mat leave you are able to apply for new roles. However hr may just say the new role was made due to the restructure then I'd say you'd have a hard time saying this is discrimination directly

Quoted the wrong post but to answer @dreamfield questions:

Why do you think it's maternity discrimination that someone was promoted and you weren't? I don't, I am wondering if this is the case as it was basically her and I left in our team and I took maternity leave and she didn't.

How are promotion decisions usually made? Application and assessment? Automatic based on seniority? Negotiated based on individual factors? No idea. She wasn't senior me to before she was promoted.

You took more than 6 months maternity leave so you're not entitled to your old job back, just one on no worse terms and conditions. Which they've done. Ok, I haven't contested this in my OP. Just said I have come back to a new role which is very unclear.

It does sound rubbish that you've been back about 2 months and haven't had any clarity on your new role. Do you have a HR department you can approach to pin that down? I do, but I don't want to flag myself as a spare part when I know they are looking to make cuts. But it seems I do need to explicitly ask for more direction on what I should be focusing on which I will do.

Yes this is my current thinking too. Thanks for your reply

Op it's worth flagging but not sure if he would just be able to explain why it was done 😁

Considering the level of restructuring, redundancies and other shenanigans that happened while you were on maternity leave, I'd say that they've gone out of their way to make sure you were not discriminated against while all that was going on.

@DrJonesIpresume i do wonder if I am still there purely on a maternity protection thing as my role is ??? and I am not busy 😬

OP, many companies have multiple promotion types. 'in-role', meaning that the role , rather than the person is uplifted. 'personal' the other way around. Creating a whole new job , which anybody can apply for. I'm sure there are or re but just examples.

It's not maternity discrimination if it's the first type - in line with organisational policy, her role has been uplifted, with her as the incumbent. Even if you'd been there and not on leave you wouldn't have been allowed to apply anyway.

It would be discriminatory however if there was open competition and you were not given the chance to apply.

That aside , clarity on new role should come from your direct manager not HR. If you cannot work with them ultimately the only way is to change roles within the org. Or leave.

It sucks, I know, I've seen many good staff leave once they got stuck under a shit new LM post re-org. Myself included. You might not have the headspace to do this as a new mum but unfortunately you don't have much choice! If you have a good network in the org maybe someone else will take you on

'not giving you any work or big projects' isn't illegal or discriminatory unless you can prove that you're getting different treatment from, say some of your LM's other reports. This isn't a HR issue.

It's also possible as PP have suggested, you would've been made redundant had you not been on mat leave. This isn't illegal, but procedure has to be correctly followed. A lot of HR are risk adverse and would rather avoid even the smallest chance of a tribunal.

Pregnant then screwed will have more info.

As PPs have said I think it's unlikely you could prove that this was directly related to your mat leave, especially as there was a massive reorganization and redundancies.
TBH I wouldn't mention not being busy and not having enough direction. Keep your head down. You're doing the right thing, helping out where you can and finding things to do. And you're employed and being paid! Things might get better when the company settles down again.

They are paying you to be there, that's the main thing!

@pistonsaremachines super helpful and clear, thanks! As you seem like an HR expert, I have another question. The mat protection law seems to be been v recently changed to lengthen the period to 18m from the baby’s birth. I believe the change came in from April this year, I returned to work days before! But does that mean it’s only people returning to work AFTER this date (I think 6th April) are eligible? If so I wouldn’t be protected.

@FictionalCharacter Yeah that’s the current plan. Hopefully things improve as it does seem there’s a lot in the air at the moment, I’ll just see how it pans out.

@DrJonesIpresume

I'm no HR expert just a line manager (and potential pregnant employee) who keeps abreast of things! 😂
If you're referring to this:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/what-employment-laws-are-changing-from-april-2024/

The wording looks like it's applicable to everyone who's within that 18 month period the moment it becomes law - nothing to do with the start date of maternity leave. I could be wrong - again Pregnant then Screwed helpline should be able to advise.

It's important to note what 'protection' means. It doesn't mean that you can't be made redundant. Only that you must be offered any alternative roles. This page explains it quite well :
https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/redundancy/