I have been back at work a month after a year on mat leave. To complicate things I came back pregnant and am due off on mat leave again in few months time. Worked at current employer for 10+ years.
Previously I led a work area which was small but growing. There have been 2 new hires whilst I was off and one of them has been given my old role and responsibilities. I've been asked to help out as not back for long.
However now my replacement has been off sick for the last couple of weeks, and return date is unknown but not imminent.
I was asked to cover for them to meet client deadlines on a project they were leading where the client has very recently complained about the poor quality of our work. My manager is also involved in that project. I could see project was not where it should be and have worked long hours to get things back on track including writing a fairly significant report from scratch.
My manager then put his own name as sole author of the report I wrote and sent it off, having indicated he would prefer to put the name of the person off sick but didn't think that was possible given they hadnt even seen it. I wasn't asked if I was OK with this (though I would have been if he had been apologetic and acknowledged that it wasn't the done thing / fair on me, but would I be OK with one or both of their names going on it to help them improve the client relationship).
I feel really upset and used. Firstly, in have my role and responsibilities given away and then in effectively being expected to 'help out' by ghost writing work for others to make them look good. I've been feeling really down and crying a lot (but that's also due to pregnancy) and concerned about impact that's having on the baby too.
I know returning from mat leave is hard, but wasn't expecting to feel so excluded and used. I don't mind troubleshooting but do want to feel respected and acknowledged for the work i do. I've asked to speak to my manager next week and obviously need to be careful what I say but also need to get my point across. We have got on well in the past so don't want to burn bridges.
I guess I'm just hoping for some sympathy and maybe some advice on what to do