Maternity discrimination - mat cover promoted

[Firstsuggestions]

Hello! I have a meeting on Monday and want to get my head straight for it so would appreciate any advice.

I've worked for a largish company for 12 years. Always excellent appraisals, multiple promotions, never had a concern raised about my work.

Just over 2 years ago a new head of department came in from outside the company. She's a good department head and very capable.

2 months ago I went off on Mat leave and my cover was someone from her old team, I'll call her Kate. Kate is excellent. They had an established working relationship from the old company.

Prior to going on Mat leave we had discussed me potentially moving into a higher level role on my return, this was an informal conversation, not written down. There was no immediate plans to create this role and it would likely be next financial year.

I received a email that the higher level role had been created and given to Kate. I was assured that my role is unchanged and they can't wait to have me back.

Full disclosure, if the role has been advertised and both me and Kate had gone for it there is every chance she would have got it as she has experience in areas I dont but equally i have experience she doesn't have so it would have been a fair fight. I would genuinely have been fine if we had both gone for it and she had won out.

However, the discrimination is that I was never given the chance to apply and apparently the dept head has said that they will look at team structure when Im back as there 100% is not enough work for me and Kate if I continue in my current position though this is through the grape vine so no evidence

Acas and the equality commission have said that this is a strong case for Mat discrimination. I cannot get through to maternity action or pregnant then screwed.

I have been with this company for a long time and tbh i am ready for a fresh challenge so may be the boost i need to move on and I'm wondering if it's even worth raising. At the same time I want to make sure it doesn't happen to others.

My question is, does anyone have any experience of something like this and how was the process? Did you receive compensation if so can i ask how much? Any advice?

Raise a grievance. If you want to claim has to be within 3 months of the event occurring.
You were discriminated against, they can not give promotions out without informing you of the vacancy and allowing you to apply.

Print off the email and keep it safe!

This is illegal. They had to give you the opportunity to apply, and unless the work you did has fundamentally changed they cannot give it to to someone else to do - you are protected for 18months until after the baby is born. 100% raise a grievance.

Look up the case of Maeve Bradley vs Citibank

Was it advertised?
Did you have the means to view vacancies eg on the intranet?
Did you tell your manager that team structure and opportunities were something you wanted to be contacted about during your mat leave?

Im trying to understand whether they can say ‘it was on the vacancies portal, you could have applied’ shrug

Hang on, if they typically informally 'discuss potentially moving into a higher level role' and if they'd just made a change for you without advertising to others for them to apply, would that have been okay? Is that how your previous multiple promotions worked?

If you plan on returning to work after more than six months, they don't have to give you your old job back, just an equivalent one. So I don't see you having any come back over there not being enough work, as long as they give you equal tasks. I don't know so much about the not being given a chance to apply part.

I see what you are saying but the company can say it was a succession plan promotion and base the job prerequisites on Kate. So, I’ve seen this happen. You will go through quite a long and stressful process and my guess is mutually settle. It comes down to if you want to stay or if you want to go down that road. If your company has a history of succession planning into roles and can show that Kate has the required experience/qualifications and has a better rating than while it feels really unfair I think they can justify it hence the difficult road.

I have seen your situation twice (any understand every situation is very different) both may leave women thought they had a great case as they were on mat keave and lost both times. It is a misnomer that just because you are on mat leave you can’t be touched - but rules need to be followed.

I’m not saying I agree but as someone else has always said - do they always advertise jobs? Most big companies don’t at senior levels and they are appointed without an interview so the ‘normal’ rules don’t always apply.

And as someone else has also said if you are off for more than six months they don’t have to give you your job back just an equal or equivalent one. They may also have something great in mind for you which you don’t know about.

I have been through (not myself) a mat leave redundancy and unless this big company is really careless if you are on mat leave they will have followed HR rules closely.

Take a step back and figure out what you want from this and if this is a battle you want while on mat leave. Perfectly fine if so, but be prepared for a stressful outcome:

This is very helpful. I'm incredibly appreciative. So useful to see what they may say. I'm not set on raising and grievance and just considering options.

@SoScarletItWas, the role was not advertised on any portal. I didnt specifically say I wanted to be informed but that is because the only job that would have been applicable wasn't due to be created until 2026 but you are right that I didn't specifically advise I would want to be contacted.

@Mimbl, it's been a mixture. It's a private company so previously if there is someone in the team who can be promoted then that's been done. If no one has the requirements they advertise externally but the internal team can still go for it. The last role that came up in the dept it was decided they did want to advertise for it but 2 internal team members applied and 1 got it.

@Hiptothisjive thank you for your incredibly thoughtful response. I believe this is the line they will take ie we don't always advertise jobs. Kate has the skill set, she got it. You still have your job. What Acas said, and they were very clear that they don't comment on specific cases so I'm not sure if fully got this right, is one of the bars is would this have happened if I wasn't on Mat Leave. In this case it wouldn't. If they were promoting internally I am the only one in the dept with the skill set that could have got it. If they felt I didnt have the right skills, it would have been advertised and I could still have gone for it.

My grievance isn't that kate got it not me, I actually thinks she's great and in different circumstances would be pleased to work alongside her. My grievance is I do think the way this was handled is, I believe, maternity discrimination and should be held to account. My company behaved badly during covid but I was much more junior and didn't dare rock the boat and guess have always felt guilty. I have options to move on while others don't and in 2025 we need to call shit like this out...

However, leaving my newborn bubble to fight a battle where I will inevitably be painted as bitter and unqualified. I dunno. I honestly really like Kate. Not want I want to be doing 2-3 months postpartum.

You’re welcome. I get what you are saying and you make a great point - even if the job came up earlier if you hadn’t been on mat leave then Kate wouldn’t have been brought in and you would have got the job.

It makes good sense and you have a point, but I think the company could probably argue that you went on mat leave and the role wasn’t due for another 6 months plus? Kate then came into your role - no issues. So they didnt bias against you it was just business timing.

Then for whatever reason they can justify the spend of the new role (found money, year end was better than they thought, fit strategic plans etc who know why?) which was Independant from your mat leave. They then reviewed best person and succeeded Kate into the role, which presumably they can justify.

Each element would be Independant I think.

I don’t think you sound bitter or unqualified at all - in fact you have been factual and kind about Kate’s abilities.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it sucks but I’m not sure you will win here but wish you the very best of luck.

I think the issue here is that the job was not put on the portal for anyone else to apply for, not just you. So on that basis, yes it’s not a correct process but i’m not sure you could specifically claim maternity discrimination, as everyone else in the company was at a disadvantage too.

PP is also right that your job doesn’t have to be the same if you were away for a longer period of time. My job has changed after both mat leaves, and is often the way of bigger companies.

Yes you may also be at a disadvantage in any claim you make as you didn’t specify you wanted to be kept informed of vacancies. When going on mat leave, an agreement is usually made where you would dictate how much contact you want while you’re off.

Yes you may also be at a disadvantage in any claim you make as you didn’t specify you wanted to be kept informed of vacancies. When going on mat leave, an agreement is usually made where you would dictate how much contact you want while you’re off.

Thank you. There was no discussion about contact wanted through this time, it is certainly a lesson for next time.

I have my meeting on monday and based on the thoughtful contributions on this thread I will approach it with positive curiosity to try and understand what the new head envisages for me and the team as a whole.

The advice from acas was it could be mat discrimination but the excellent advice on this thread has made me realise what their come back is likely to be and it makes a lot of sense. It seems there's a bit of a grey area and I may get somewhere, I may not and it will be a long drawn out process that may go nowhere and cause ill feeling. I just don't want to risk redundancy as the team is getting top heavy with both me and kate.

In my gut, I think the head wanted to work with Kate who is excellent and used the opportunity of my Mat Leave to bring her in. I honestly think if I hadn't gone on mat leave I would have been given the role as I'm the only one internally it could have gone to and if not I would have had the chance to apply and then it would have been the judgement of multi-team panel which could have gone either way. That's just cards on the table.

However, as people have eloquently pointed out, I can't prove that and there are a lot of grey areas.

If the job had been “specially created for you”, would others see it as fair?

@materialgworl that's a fair comment. Without being too outing the role is a role I was doing 70 -80% off but there would be some additional work. It was being created to bring out team into the same structure as other teams ie marketing, HR etc. my current role would then not be replaced. That was my understanding when it was discussed informally previously so I am worried that there would he large overlap and that would put me at risk of redundancy down the line. However, things may have changed so will go into the meeting with an open mind.

Elsewhere other members of the company have just been promoted without it being advertised. It's been handled well and the person stepping up as always been an obvious choice, I believe this is quite normal. Where there have been multiple options it is normal advertised. This role requires a qualification that both me and Kate have but others dont.

I think you’re right to raise it and gain more understanding of their thought process and the points raised here hopefully helps you plan with the questioning.

I think you shouldn’t freely admit that you think the other person is more qualified if an informal offer of a partially similar role was discussed with you. Perhaps angle it in a way that seeks to check if your promised role can still exist/co exist.

Your employer is obliged to keep you informed about thing like this - opportunities and potential redundancies during mat leave.

You shouldn't have to specifically request it.

In other types of leave such as sick leave - there may be a discussion about what level of contact is appropriate.

I think you should raise it with them. It sounds like a grey area and you might not win a case, but you could raise it in the sense that you’re asking about the informal conversation you had before and if there is still a promotion role for you as previously planned.

If your job is at risk in a restructure, then of course. But job opportunities, no. It also works the opposite way where colleagues on mat leave can specificy that they don’t want to be contacted much during mat leave.

In this case though, the job wasn’t even advertised, so everyone was at the same disadvantage.

Op. Im quoting directly from the first page on maternity discrimination on the ACAS page. This is basic maternity stuff. You dont have to request it.

This may help inform your next steps.

Your employer has the right to a reasonable amount of contact with you during your maternity leave.

Keeping in touch with work
Before you go on maternity leave, your employer or manager should have a meeting with you to talk about how you'd like to stay in touch.

While you're on maternity leave, your employer must tell you about important changes that might affect you. For example:

promotion or other job opportunities
training
redundancies
any reorganisation
If your employer does not, this could be pregnancy and maternity discrimination

Yeah it can also be a grey area depending on the nature of your company. You wouldn’t expect to be notified of every single job opportunity it the company.

BUT the point i’m making here is:

The main issue is that the company didn’t advertise this job on the internal portal. Therefore everyone was at the same disadvantage. They should have absolutely informed op of the opportunity but it sounds like they have gone about ‘creating’ a role for someone specifically instead of giving anyone else a fair chance. Because of this, op likely won’t be able to claim maternity discrimination specifically. What op does need to highlight is what process they went through in creating the role.

Op does your work have a system in place to set up job alerts to your email? If so, you could also argue that you were signed up to these and therefore expected to be notified of job opportunities in your area and ask why it wasn’t added to the portal.

In effect, both you & Kate were on the team at the point the more senior role was created. If you hadn't been on mat leave (say Kate was on the team because there was work for 2 people at your level), sounds like this job would have been advertised to both of you? Or, if you hadn't been on mat leave & therefore Kate wasn't on the team in the first place, it would have been given directly to you, as indeed your employer had previously discussed with you. That doesn't seem at all grey to me. Regardless of Kate's qualifications, she would definitely not have got the role without competition & might not even have been in the running for it if you hadn't been on mat leave, whereas you definitely would have at least been in the running, therefore mat discrimination.

I'd do my best to sound trusting & relaxed in meeting with manager, while asking ingenuous questions about their process & how it fits with the promotion they'd promised you. Take notes; email to follow up, not as "here are the notes from our meeting" but as "given you said X, Y and Z (the facts you want to get in writing) in our meeting, I realised I have this follow-up question (harmless inquiry about return date / handover from Kate / who will deal with some aspect of work)". If they reply answering your question & without taking issue with the facts you've referenced, you'll then be on solid ground to raise a grievance / pursue a claim / get a pay-off, but still in a position to do nothing if you decide you'd rather not. It also means that if you're right about there not being enough work for you both, you'll have evidence in event of redundancy (though check with ACAS when the clock starts for that - I assume from redundancy not from original discriminatory actions).

As ever, listen to the people who are advising you in real life. If ACAS and the equality commission think you have an excellent case, you probably do.

You dont need to worry about signing up on portals. Because...

While you're on maternity leave, your employer must tell you about important changes that might affect you.

Its their responsibility.

Great suggestion from PP on how to raise this informally before committing yourself to a formal route.