Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Work

Chat with other users about all things related to working life on our Work forum.

Flip

Original poster

City lawyer - worried my maternity cover will steal my job

23 replies

Gangle · 11/12/2009 14:44

I am 6 months pregnant with DS2 and making arrangements for my maternity cover. I am an in-house lawyer and head up the legal team in EMEA. We're a pretty small team of 3. Last year I recruited another lawyer who is only 1 year less PQE then me who is now very keen to take over my role when I go on maternity leave at the end of Feb. I generally support this, as does my boss (who is based in New York) as she is competant and, having been here a year, knows the business pretty well. We would also take on somone else, around my PQE, as extra resource. This other lawyer in my team just handed in her appraisal which I will also send onto my boss and in it she is very explicit about wanting to take on my role whilst I am out and to take any other management responsibilities etc. She is very ambitious and I am worried that when I return she is not going to be willing to step back down. I know that I am protected in that I have a right to return to the same job and that in a redunancy situation, were that to happen, I would have preferential rights over her and first right of refusal on my position but I am still worried. Any ideas what I should do?? I may actually be looking to step down slightly as my current role is very demanding with long hours and I'm not sure will be sustainable with 2 kids but I am not ready to make that decision yet. Am I being paranoid??

OP posts:

butadream · 11/12/2009 15:23

I would say take only 6 months maternity leave + accrued holiday to retain your maximum level of employment rights, then you go straight back to the same (not equivalent) job so you should be OK.

Original poster

Gangle · 11/12/2009 16:39

butadream, do I not have the same rights if I take 9 or 12 months as I was hoping to do this time.

OP posts:

butadream · 11/12/2009 18:25

There is a difference, if you return during or at the end of the first 26 weeks (ordinary maternity leave) you are entitled to the same job on terms and conditions as if you hadn't been away. If you take additional maternity leave you are entitled to the same job on the same terms and conditions but if your employer cannot give you the exact same job back for good reasons, you are entitled to a suitable job at the same level with terms and conditions at least as good as your previous job.

butadream · 11/12/2009 19:01

Anyway see what happens when you're off, who knows, this other lawyer might get pregnant too!

ilovemydogandmrobama · 11/12/2009 19:04

Befriend her and act as her mentor. Honestly, it's the only way as that way you will keep your hand in, and if she tries to grab your job, people will know that she's stabbing you in the back, and since it's a small team, they won't like that.

Original poster

Gangle · 11/12/2009 21:01

Butafriend, are you sure that is still correct? I thought there was no longer a concept of ordinary/additional maternity leave and it was all treated the same? I have already befriended her and act as her mentor so not more I can do really. Not much chance of her getting pregnant whilst I'm off as she's single!

OP posts:

butadream · 11/12/2009 21:42

Hmmm, I was going by the BERR guidance for babies due on or after 5 October 2008. AFAIK the law on has changed in relation to the continued provision of benefits thoughout both OML and AML and to the continuation of SMP TO 9 months. I haven't seen anything about changes to the difference between returning to work from OML rather than AML. Might be worth starting a new thread shouting out for flowery?

weaselbudge · 17/12/2009 13:47

Hi - the other problem is that if you request some kind of flexible working on return then your employer could use that opportunity to negotiate changes to your other terms. Not many employers will let you work flexibly with exactly the same responsibilities. I am also a city lawyer (well now I'm a SAHM )and my experience with women returning to work is that they generally got put on the boring more administrative matters which could be juggled round flexible working (which is one reason why I resigned).
I agree with butadream re the right to return to work (I was a city employment lawyer) but to be honest my knowledge is now pretty out of date so I would check that.

weaselbudge · 17/12/2009 13:48

sorry - ds hit the keyboard and so posted twice

Amani · 17/12/2009 13:56

Knowledge is Power - hold back some information when you are doing the handover period so that she might have to struggle a bit while you are off - so when it is time to come back, she will be relieved to hand your job back to you...

Mamulik · 26/12/2009 16:33

I was worried as well, but I am not lawyer. I can totaly understand you. My advise would be - look forward to have lovely baby - this is more important.

blueshoes · 26/12/2009 17:37

Good tactic, amani.

Gangle, with this tactic, be prepared to make yourself available during your maternity leave. And also go into work occasionally.

That is what the head of the legal team did when she was on maternity leave - I was a secondee from an external law firm then. She was in some management pow wow meeting whilst her second in command was left (literally) holding the baby. Continue to keep yourself visible to management

flowerytaleofNewYork · 28/12/2009 17:09

butadream is right. You are now entitled to SMP for 9 months and to your benefits for the full 12 months, but OML is still only 6 months and the right to return to the same job is only for that period. If you return during or after AML, and it's not practical for your employer to give you the exact same job, you are entitled to a suitable job on no less favourable terms and conditions.

Original poster

Gangle · 03/05/2010 23:16

thanks all. Just wondering whether the enhanced rights you have if you take only 26 weeks convince women to go back to work sooner than they otherwise would. I'm still worried about this but still want to take 9 months and have the extra time with my gorgeous babies rather than rush back to save my job. Is this the case for most women or is it sensible to go back earlier if you are worried about your job being stolen??

OP posts:

MollieO · 03/05/2010 23:25

I went back after 10 months and found my job was totally changed (and screwed). Some years later it hasn't really recovered but I also found my priorities changed hugely on having dcs (another in house lawyer here). I have friends who have maintained their position but not without considerable sacrifice. Depends on what you really want and unfortunately the rules for mothers still seem to be different than those for fathers.

gaelicsheep · 03/05/2010 23:28

Sorry, but if you care about your career you shouldn't consider taking more than 6 months off. It sends all the wrong messages IMO.

[I am also of anyone who can afford to take more than 6 months off. If the Govt really cared about choices for working mothers they would have extended the 9/10 portion of the maternity pay, not the measly £100 a week. And then extended the OMP rights as well.]

MollieO · 03/05/2010 23:31

It also depends on your circumstances. I planned on taking less than 6 months but took longer as dc too poorly to be left any younger than when I did, and probably not ideal even then.

Original poster

Gangle · 03/05/2010 23:54

Gaelicsheep, I do care about my career, but spending as much time with DC is surely more important? I will have to go back full time so this is really my only chance of spending time with them, unless I take a career break. Lots of women I know, lawyers and otherwise, take longer than 6 months, many take a year and are still taken seriously. I took 7.5 months with DC1 and it certainly didn't affect my career, if anything, I went from strength to strength when I returned.

OP posts:

RibenaBerry · 04/05/2010 14:33

Realistically, the change in status after six months makes little or no difference to most people's decision. The difference is only marginal in practice anyway - how many employers don't have the original job to offer (due to genuine and non discriminatory reasons) but do have a similar job on the same terms and conditions?

Money is the far bigger factor in how long people take.

If you were thinking of your career, you wouldn't take more than six months off. I do agree with gaelicsheep on that. A year is a long time. But I took my full entitlement. I simply wasn't prioritising my career that year, and I fully admit it!

gaelicsheep · 04/05/2010 22:18

Personally I don't see that there's much difference between taking 6 months and taking a year if after that you're still going to be working full time. Therefore I'd rather take the 6 months and not go bankrupt. But I accept that's just a personal viewpoint, and probably coloured by a newfound enthusiasm for my work that I certainly didn't have the first time around - plus the fact that I'm the main breadwinner. First time around I had to go back after 6 months - there was simply no choice - and I felt guilty and resentful. This time I also have to go back after 6 months but I also find that I don't actually want to leave my job for more than that. If I felt there was any danger of my job not being there for me then I wouldn't even contemplate a longer period of leave. But at the end of the day you have to do what's right for you.

veryconfusedandupset · 16/05/2010 16:51

Came across this thread by accident, I was a lawyer too when I had my children ( now manage a Charity) I was in criminal defence and worked up to 3 weeks before each birth adn went back when sons were 8 weeks old. I had to do that to retain my case load and court "slots" . I got a really good nanny who stayed with us for 11 years, she was part of the family. Now my sons are nearly proper grown ups, DS 1 at uni ( Oxford) DS2 doing GCSEs, we muddled through and they certainly didn't suffer. I would have felt very bitter indeed if my career had suffered.

Pootles2010 · 20/05/2010 11:04

Don't forgot you also should be able to have Keep in Touch days, i think you get 10 which isn't bad over 6 months. I am a little worried about same as you and will definitely be using all of my KIT days to keep up to date with training and just to keep an eye on things!

Flip