Position made redundant during maternity leave but I was not informed

[beckyg71]

I handed my notice in at work in October this year as during my maternity leave there had been a number of issues that made me feel it was impossible for me to return to work for the company. I raised a grievance regarding these issues, the process for which has now finished. The issues in question were:-

1. Lack of communication with me during maternity leave regarding changes to my department.
2. Secondment of my colleague (only the 2 of us in the team at this higher level) into a newly created Team Leader role to take effect on the date I was originally due to return without informing me of the vacancy or asking if I wished to be considered for it.
3. The girl covering my maternity leave was taken on on a permanent basis into my role just 4 months after I went on maternity leave. The level of the role was demoted so they could employ her within it as HR would not allow them to recruit anyone else in at the higher level but she was and is effectively doing the job I was employed to do.
4. The company were insisting I return to another job which meant sitting with a different team although they were adamant the role was within my existing team! I argued on this point that the job they were asking me to return to had always sat within the sales team and I felt it was just bits and pieces of other peoples jobs and was not at the level they were saying. At first they were adamant that I did not have the right to return to my old job as I was into AML but I udnerstand I did still have the right 'unless it was not reasonably practicable' and in this case it was 'practicable' except they had given the job to my cover during maternity leave!

Following the grievance process they did reluctantly back down on the alternative job although they were still saying I could return to my old job but with changes although these changes were not clarified. My position was worsened by the fact that since I had gone on maternity leave there was a new manager in place whom I had never worked for but during meetings I had with him I found him to be aggressive when I challenged why I hadn't been informed of changes, and I found him very evasive when replying to any e-mails asking direct questions regarding flexible working. At no point did I get a direct answer out of him. I felt at this point that they didn't need me to return (the team had almost doubled in size since I went on maternity leave and just 2 months later the credit crunch arrived!)and were making it as difficult as possible for me in the hope I would just give up and go away!

Anyway the grievance process finished some 7 months after all this rubbish started and by this time I felt that the relationship with my new manager was in tatters as I had had to go above hime and raise a grievance against him in order for them to consider allowing me to return to my existing job or reduce my hours at all. As I've already mentioned they did finally agree I could return to my old job but with 'changes'.

I was then advised to raise a grievance regarding the outomce of the family friendly working request which I won't go into huge amounts of detail about here. I have just received a letter from the company regarding the outcome of this grievance meeting and there is a section which troubles me greatly as I think it opens up a whole new load of issues with them. I should also mention that I have already submitted a claim to the ET for sex discrimination and constructive dismissal.

The paragraph in the letter in question states "just to confirm......also there was a reduction in workload in your department and there wasn't a demand for two Lead Advisors in that team any longer. As yoy were into aml you were entitled to return to the same terms and conditions but this may be a different role"

.. to me this is effectively saying my position has been made redundant whilst I was on maternity leave but this is the first time they have said this - there was no mention of it during my meetings with managers or during the grievance process. Should I not have been informed and/or consulted at the time, if only one job remained in that team at that level should I not have been given the opportunity to apply for that role against my colleague? Surely I should have been consulted? Also given her comments in that paragraph why was I continually being told during the grievance process that this role did sit within my existing team when I was arguing that it didn't and never had and I was also saying taht it wasn't at LA level. Her comments here seem to confirm this. As I have already put a claim in to an ET can I add this information to it? Should I reply to their letter asking these questions or just keep quiet until the tribunal. I did have a right to appeal but was unable to do so as my little boy was in hospital for a few days (unforseen)and I was with him. I also feel that this information relates to the previous grievance and is not related to the Family Friendly one anyway. Where do I stand on this??? Can anyone help? Please!!!

Are you still on maternity leave or have you now left the company?

Regarding your penultimate paragraph, women on maternity leave have special protection from maternity leave. In my opinion, as the Lead Advisor on maternity leave you should have been given the remaining role over the other Lead Advisor. Flowerybeanbag has previously posted a good link on this special protection previously, you may wish to scan back through the employment threads for it, there have been quite a few lately on this subject.

Are they a big company with a HR team? They do appear to have handled this very badly. I think you need to seek legal advice on this to ensure that your tribunal case is handled effectively. Check your house insurance as you may be covered for legal claims relating to employment. My standard insurance does.

You should appeal, stating the reasons for your delay in doing so, and your employer (ex employer) will need to act reasonably in dealing with your appeal or it will look bad for them. However I think you should submit a fresh grievance relating to the redundancy issue above and see if you can then add this to your ET claim.

What a can of worms. What do you want as an outcome?

I have now left the company. My position was officially made redundant the week I would have returned (what a coincidence!). I shall have a look back at the previous threads as that would be interesting if it were the case especially as during past appraisals it was well documented that I was not interested in doing the kind of work they then asked me to return to especially as the other LA had done this work before and had expressed an interest in it!!

They are a very big company with a massive HR Dept and legal team at Head Office. How much they have been involved uptil now and how much my immediate managers went ahead and did without reference to them I can only guess but they will not accept any responsibility and although they have backed down on a couple of major issues I feel as though by pushing me to the limit on these plus the other issues the relationship we had has completley broken down - I have absolutely no trust or confidence in them any more. I feel that the whole grievance process wasn't seen by them as a chance to really sort things out - I don't think they expected me to actually go ahead and raise it. Since I did they just seem to be interested in finding out how much I know about what they have and haven't done whilst on leave and then coming up with excuses which I know are a load of rubbish.. the best one yet was to do with the secondment which they have now decided (after 4 months and several grievance meetings!) wasn't a secondment after all and their correspondence to myself and the secondee was just 'badly worded'!

I would submit a fresh grievance regarding the redundancy issue but in all honesty this has now been going on since February of this year. I have been to investigative meetings, and then the grievance meetings and then the 1st appeal and then the 2nd appeal meetings and then a final outcome meeting for the grievance's I have raised and it is a waste of time. They are never going to admit any wrongdoing - I can only presume they think people won't take on such a big company. As for the home insurance, the company in question is probably the biggest insurer in the UK and I have my car and home insurance with them so that is not going to be possible! I just can't trust them with anything any more.

It is a mess. What do I want as an outcome? Originally I wanted to go back to my old job - I had worked there for over 10 years. The position now after everything that has gone on is that I do not want that job back or any other job within the company - the trust and confidence has gone and the relationship is in tatters. Originally it was more a matter of principle than anything else - I'm one of those people that won't just take it lying down I'm afraid & I'll always come out fighting - I just wanted them to admit they had made mistakes instead of trying to cover it up - an apology would have been a great starting point. With the additional info in the recent letter however I feel that if that position had been made redundant they should have been up front with me about it and offered me redundancy money. I feel I sucessfully argued the point with them on the job they originally wanted me to return to because they did eventually cave in a bit on that one and I would have had the same argument with them had they told me about the redundancy situation - it was a job I did not feel was at the same level and one that they have written evidence to confirm I had never expressed interest in doing that kind of work although my colleague at LA level had expressed interest and had carried out some of those tasks for a period of approx 6 months previously!

As regards a Solicitor, I know I need one but at £175 p/h plus vat when I'm not working and have a young baby - it's just impossible. I could look at no win no fee but I'm a bit dubious about these companies although I'm sure some of them are very good but I would want word of mouth recommendation before entrusting all of this to one of those companies.

I think what you need to do is appeal against your dismissal due to redundancy, but didn't you say you'd given notice yourself? If that's the case then you weren't made redundant.

A good friend of mine sits on tribunals and she is very clear that people who represent themselves at tribunals are given lots of leeway and help, but you'll need to be very tough to do this yourself. I don't suppose you were in a union, were you?

becky - you shouls at the first point, call ACAS, they are great at giving advice on legal side of things, who to go to etc.
Also, first of all go to a No Win No Fee Employment Lawyers - Nash and Co are good, they are emp law specialists, but are not just lawyers for this (ie not just NWNF) but not sure if they are in your area (maybe call them and ask for a local recommendation). They will look at your case, and if they beleive you have a winable case, which it seems like you do, they will take it on. I know some can be dubious, but Nash and Co represented a friend who had a grievance against M&S (dismissed for gross misconduct) was offered $80k - pounds but no apology or reference, Nash and Co told him to refuse and go to court, he won $150k and a reference (pounds, sorry US keyboard).

I have been in a similar position also. And I did not fight the fight, as like you I was a new mum, and it was so stressful, and the only way would have been to quit, not guaranteed to win etc. BUT, looking back, I wish I had. I still work where I work, but have little respect for those who employee me now.

ACAS link. Check it out.

No I was not a member of a union unfortunately. Just to clarify I did give notice as there were other issues involved which were just unsurmountable. I'm not one to make snap decisions and I thought long and hard about it before giving my notice in as if I had felt there was anyway I could return and work there I would have done so but at the end of th day try as I might, I just could not see how I could possibly go back there.

I felt almost from the start that they didn't need me to come back as they had already employed 2 additional people in the department since I went on maternity leave. The issue with the redundancy is that from February up until beginning of December nobody ever said to me that the reason I was being told to return to a different role was due to the fact that my department had been restructured and there was no longer a need for two Lead Advisers in my department. This information has only just been forthcoming in a letter I received at the beginning of December. So I now know that my original hunch was right but instead of being honest with me I think they have covered up what was really going on & tried to force me into an unsuitable role that they were paying a temp to do in the mistaken belief that I wouldn't fight it and would just go with them on it. So it is only recently I am aware that there was actually a redundancy situation.

Thanks for your recommendation re: Nash & Co - I will look them up on the internet tomorrow and give them a call if they cover my area (Midlands)

PS By the time I received the information in the letter in December I had already effectively left the company.