indirect discrimination against working mother

[SamSam786R]

Dear all,i am concerned that my employers are pushing me out of the business as working there has become impossible. as primary childcare provider for my children i require a certain amount of flexibility to work. the job i do is comms and can be done remotely. despite this i will go into the office three days a week. however, HR have told me that i must do certain days where childcare is impossible and so i am scrambling each week to find someone to watch my kids after school. they have said that this poilcy applies to all employees and NO exceptions can be made. my manager has told me that a job like mine is not suitable for working mothers and HR have stated that if i can not work around my children i need to go part time. in tandem i have now been put on an informal pip for a spelling error. since then, every mistake is emailed to me and my manager will message me on teams with all capital letters asking why i made these mistakes and that i can no longer make any mistakes at work. obviously, this along with the lack of flexibility or understanding has put me under immense stress - just today i cried in the toilet for one hour and had a minor panic attack. it might seem like a small thing, but these small aggressive remarks and confrontational emails have taken a huge toll on me. futhermore, my childless colleagues have been given leeway for working hours and days due to relocations. on top of that my HR person has stated that i am not attending the office for my full hours despite him coming in after me and leaving before every week. i am also one of the few people who come into an office regularly. they have also said i have baby brain on many occasions and compared me to my male colleagues. sorry for making this so long and rambly, there are so many other things that they have said and done to me, im so tired and would LOVE to resign but i need to pay my bills and the job market is awful right now. advice on: a: how to survive and b: how to escalate this with employment tribunal. thank you

I work in comms. If you’re regularly making spelling and grammar mistakes, that would typically be a significant performance issue in most comms roles. If you can’t write well, that will generally be a problem in that type of job. It’s not unreasonable for your boss to point out your mistakes.

It’s your responsibility to have childcare in place for your normal working hours. You’re entitled to ask for flexibility, but your employer isn’t obliged to grant it.

It’s not acceptable for your boss to tell you you’ve got ‘baby brain’ and send you shouty caps lock messages.

Absolutely rubbish. Don’t make ridiculous comments just because posters don’t agree with the op. And yes I was a working mother but guess what I had to sort and pay for childcare as it it was MY decision to have children. As has already been started the op was obviously being childcare at the same time as working from home which is not acceptable.

Actually yes she has. Working from home while looking after children is a no no for what should be obvious reasons. It is NOT discrimination.

You do realise your comment is 100% legally incorrect don't you?

Do you not have childcare in place for all your working days? Not just office days? Or cannot you not get back in time for close? If you can’t then realistically you should drop some hours.

It’s not ignorant to point out that the OP said she has to ‘scramble around for childcare’ every week. Why would a full time employee need to do this? It is their responsibility to have reliable childcare in place.

An emergency situation where the regular childcare breaks down is completely different. As pp, this is one of those threads where the OP seems to change according to the responses they get!

It isn't rubbish. You clearly have zero knowledge surrounding Employment Law.

Do refrain from giving any advice as it is wholly and legally inaccurate.

If you know what days you will be in work.
Hire a local person to look after your children.

Put advert in local shops, Facebook market place, local school or nursery

Surely this is an issue that can be easily solved

Absolutely horrible.

Indeed. In addition, she is legally incorrect with her 'advice'

This is wrong as a matter of fact and law. The employment tribunal has recognised that discrimination can occur when employers fail to take account of the fact that the burden of childcare falls to women predominantly.

Surprised at women being so needlessly nasty to OP, she’s clearly being bullied out.
She’s being treated differently from her peers and men in her office along with sexist comments. I doubt many of us would tolerate that.

Comments about "baby brain" are unacceptable.

However, there are many grammatical and spelling mistakes in your posts and you say that you work in Comms; an area where mistakes like these will be more difficult to excuse.

Do you think that it is possible that they are no longer satisfied with the work that you are doing? I understand that these mistakes may be caused by stress but they may be thinking that you are just not doing a good job of representing them.

If so, is it possible that they might be able to present a dossier of evidence to support this?

If so, maybe tread a little carefully as they might move to sack you on grounds of incompetence.

Is there a possibility of moving to another role within the company-maybe one which might showcase other skills and afford more flexibility?

so there’s a few things here- I don’t think your manager can actually use a phrase saying the rule isn’t suitable for a parent, it’s bull anyway, because all parents have different set ups, but aside from that I’d find it discriminatory.

The caps thing, if sent to a group seems like bullying and awful!

Op, it is true if you can’t do the job because of kids you shouldn’t be there, you should find something else, nobody needs this much stress!

What shoddy advice? The employer breaks the law, and you put the burden on the OP to find another job?

For those asking how is this discrimination?

Her manager said ‘this isn’t a job for working mothers’. She has been called ‘Baby Brain’. There you go. How is that NOT direct sex discrimination?

Those pointing out that the men have no childcare responsibilities and saying it’s not the problem of the employer- yes it is. The Dobson vs N Cumbria NHS ruling is so significant that from the point it was made, every single employment tribunal MUST recognise the childcare disparity eg that women are more likely than men to have childcare responsibilities and therefore less flexibility around working hours. Employers must have a clear, justifiable, and proportionate business case for imposing rigid working patterns. Changing your working pattern at such short notice without considering the childcare disparity and applying this rigidly could amount to indirect discrimination. I would speak with ACAS and get their thoughts and advice.

OP FWIW there are only 8 reasons that an employer can refuse a flexible working request. These can’t be wishy washy reasons like not wanting people to have a long weekend. Also your husband is able to submit another request as you have a statutory right for 2 in each 12 month period.

Could you explain what the issue is with childcare? I hope you arent trying to work and do childcare at the same time and have been caught out? There are plenty of people who try and do this.

They are a complete nightmare when they are in the same team as you. Always have a reason not to jump on a call to discuss something urgent, always at the 'dentist', going to the GP etc.

If other folk are being treated more favourably than you in regards to flexible working then this does seem unfair. However, why aren't you using a childminder for after school care on the days you need to go in to your workplace. I think you need to consider if your employer is making unfair demands or are they just expecting you to work the hours you are paid for.

Quite. But it sounds as though the OP hasn’t actually made a flexible working request! If she does, the employer has a responsibility to consider it through the correct process, however, there is no guarantee that this would result in the OP having the exact working terms she wants.

I keep going back to the fundamental point: the OP said she is ‘scrambling each week’ to organise childcare. Why would a full time employee need to do this? They should have reliable care in place regardless of whether they’re working on site or anywhere else. If childcare is impossible for the OP to arrange on certain days, why hasn’t she made a FWR to reduce her hours? It’s entirely unreasonable to expect to be paid to do a job while simultaneously being responsible for children who are of an age where childcare is needed.

Saying your job is not suitable for mothers is pretty direct discrimination. Contact ACAS and follow their advice.

I would also say that your childcare arrangements are not your employer's problems. They are expected to make reasonable adjustments for flexible working requests but it is not unreasonable to expect employees to be making use of afterschool clubs or childcare providers.

Please note I have childcare in place for Tuesdays (husband) and Thursdays (after school club) after school club cancelled with two days notice and I asked employer for temp respite (WFH on Thursday ) so I could do the school pick up, finding a new childcare provision in two days is not acceptable and I simply needed some time to find a solution but they will not consider this, previously I was able to pick up my kids and make up that time after five as it’s a global company and the work hours differ. Also I use pick up time as a lunch break and work through the mornings. But that is not really the point, some of u are also nit picking and so it’s no wonder mothers get such bad treatment at work, so very sad. Also the grammar police - I have worked long enough to know what kind of people you are!!

They are probably the same type of people as your employers, which is one of the reasons you're in the shite!

I think that saying a job is unsuitable for a working mums is unacceptable. There are many many working mums who are in the office full time. There are mums that do almost any job I can think of.

So why are you ‘scrambling around every week’ for childcare which is what you stated?

I respectfully disagree. Whilst it's true childcare does affect working mothers disproportionately, that isn't the fault of the employer so I think you'd have difficulty proving discrimination at a tribunal.
The OP hasn't specified whether she's put in a formal flexible working request so that's a moot point until she clarifies.