Post pregnant & now potentially screwed

[IslandsAround]

Hello,

Some collective wisdom from you wise women of Mumsnet…..

I am in a senior role in an org. 60% of my role was leading on people and culture. I hired a Head of person to lead on that work during my maternity leave.

Just found out via LinkedIn that that individual has been promoted to my c-suite with remit of People and Culture.

I am taking full 52 week maternity.

From memory they can divvy up my role and offer me another I guess at the same level?

Feels very off and I wasn’t communicated with but wondering what clear legal position is before I have any engagement with work down the line.

I am afraid that you are correct - you are entitled to return to a post on equivalent terms, but not to your original post. It's pretty poor practice to not tell you if there was such a change, but not unlawful per se.

Yep this. When taking 52 weeks there is no guarantee of you getting your specific job back, just a job.

thanks @EmmaMaria and @Mrsttcno1 - thank you.

Any idea as to whether I should have been consulted on re-org, change of role and when might I expect my new role to be advised to me?

How far into your mat leave are you? I'd be tempted to organise a KIT days and use it to be in the office for a day to at least initiate some early conversations / remind people of your presence! I did mine as soon as my enhanced pay ended, which was at around 6months.

It’s not quite right. You have the right to return to your job after additional maternity leave, unless it is not reasonably practicable for you to do so. So there has to be a good reason for the change. Not just because the employer fancies it.

Well as it hasn’t been communicated to you, I would be arranging to go in for KIT days asap and have a conversation with your manager about your return and your reasonable expectation that you will continue with your roles.

If you were employed to lead on people and culture should you not know this stuff?

Agree though bad form not to communicate with you about changes, but on the other hand there are so many posts from people who complain of feeling harassed/stressed by emails from work when they're off on maternity or off sick. ACAS always a good (free) first port of call, or Pregnant and Screwed. https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/contact-us-2/

Hi @SnoozingFox - yes well in my 5 years with Head of People reporting into me I would obviously not change anyone’s role at all when on maternity leave because it is by it’s very nature discriminatory - because if they were in post it wouldn’t happen. And I would err on the side of caution - I made sure we had great maternity benefits and return to work processes. I just saw a post this morning that materially changes my role with no other mention - and while I can go do the research and have a good outline having never thought to do it to anyone or be familiar on how to do it - it isn’t at the forefront of my mind.

Legally my thoughts are:

Under certain circumstances you can offer a suitable alternative role on someone’s return from maternity leave. I wasn’t notified that part of my role was going elsewhere and by virtue of that fact my reporting lines changed significantly. So when does the duty to inform occur?

From my perspective this change is only related to my maternity leave, the promotion would not have happened if I was in post.

It materially changes my remit and there is no other work that is being offered to me to my knowledge - so I cannot see that I have a suitable alternative role.

I know the legal process for redundancy and consultation and that hasn’t been followed here. In fact I am just into my AML and I imagine the discussions around that change preceded my AML so that would be discriminatory.

So when I get the time I’ll do the research and will do some KIT days. Complicated at minute due to caring responsibilities for someone in hospital.

I’ve found Mumsnet an incredibly helpful place to get perspective from so thank you.

Have they actually communicated any change to your role with you yet or is this just from what you’ve seen on LinkedIn? It could be a temporary promotion whilst you’re on mat leave, or they could have something else for you in mind. I wouldn’t go in all guns blazing on this, have a conversation with your manager about both your and their expectations from you when you return and she what they say. Make it clear you are returning and expect to return to your same role. If they bring this up as an issue or try to put you in a lesser role then you can inform them of the legal position and take it further.

Hi @Overthebow -no reaction to work for the foreseeable. Definitely permanent promotion into my peer - was a Head of Role - up two levels. Permanent.

Will speak to manager in due course - bit tricky as clearly they have been taking advice on legality of situation from newly promoted person so quite awkward. I know it can navigate it - but can’t believe they’ve been so blatant. Turns out was announced at company event as well.

Well could be a nice pay packet for your OP.

Silver lining and all.

I would let this settle. Enjoy your maternity and then start to investigate whether you have a claim.

@POSTC123 - definitely strengthens any idea of exit.

There appears to be no legal timeline or process for change of role or newly offered role when returning from AML. ACAS just read off their webpages.

I am planning to put it to one side & think about it in a few months when I plan to go back.

When circs allow I’ll do some KIT days.

Thank you to everyone who advised.

I'd go back at 26 weeks then take 4 weeks parental leave

@ByQuaintAzureWasp - that’s a good option. I’m past that point but definitely worth doing for someone else if they face this situation.

@IslandsAround At how many weeks into your maternity leave did this happen? Was it after the first 6 months?