Don't want to change departments when I return after mat leave

[TeaandCake]

I work part-time as a sales assistant for a family owned department store. I went on maternity leave last July with my 2nd child so I am due to return this summer.

I requested a meeting with HR and my manager last week to discuss my return. They have offered me the same hours/days of work/hourly pay but in another department (with full training). They said that there were no hours available in my dept as they had to staff the rotas in my absence and there was no room for me there now.

My department is fairly specialized and I have a real passion for those products and no interest at all in the new department.

The Directgov website states:
'When returning to work after ordinary maternity leave (the first 26 weeks of your Statutory Maternity Leave), you have a right to the same job and the same terms and conditions as if you hadn't been absent.

This also applies when you come back after additional maternity leave (the last 26 weeks of your Statutory Maternity Leave). However, if your employer shows it is not reasonably practical to return to your original job (eg because the job no longer exists) you do not have the same right. In that case, you must be offered work with terms and conditions as if you hadn't been absent.'

I called my USDAW rep who said I had the right to walk straight back into my original role/working hours unless the job no longer existed. The person/persons brought in to cover my job should be moved and not me.

I am a bit confused over what exactly I can ask for here. Could my employer argue that my job no longer exists? They have not contacted me in any form to tell me so. I can only request the presence of my USDAW rep in a meeting if I ask for an official greivance proceedure, I don't really want to go that far yet.

Also, I have accrued 8 days' holiday on mat leave. When I asked to tag these hols on to the end of my leave I was told it may not be possible due to the rotas which I surely don't feature on yet! I figured it would be easier to organise the rota to take them before I return rather than go back then take hols.

Apologies for the length of this post .

I'm not sure but I know where I work (civil service) I can return to my office if I took upto 6 months, anything over that they can move me as long as its the same grade, (not that it matters been told it'll become one big hr office when I get back because of the recruitment freeze) so if your away for a year this may apply? you cannot lose holiday so make sure they know that.

Your USDAW rep isn't quite right. That right is if you've only taken ordinary maternity leave.

Your right is to go back to an equivalent job if it isn't reasonably practicable to give you your exact position. It's hard to say for definite, but this might fall into that. It doesn't sound like they have maternity cover who they are now refusing to move (unless you confirm otherwise), more that they have re-jigged the rota in your absence.

Looking at the bigger picture, do you have the right to stay in a particular department normally? Do they normally move people about?

Thank you both for your replys. I had a feeling my USDAW rep was a little off the mark.

Ribena Berry you have hit the nail on the head, they've re-worked the rota and I don't feature on it! No one was taken on specifically to cover my mat leave but there has been a huge change of staff in my dept. They do move staff around but usually to train on other products and computer systems, I have worked on the dept they want me move to for the odd day (thats how I know I can't stand it!).

Sorry, REPLIES (duh!)

Could you go back in the new dept and then apply to transfer to a different one asap? Just a thought. Good luck!

Hhhhm, I'd be inclined to kick up a bit of a fuss but go back to the new department and push to be transferred back. Sorry, not the most cut and dried answer, but probably the most practical (especially if you have maternity pay you have to repay if you don't return).

I won't have to pay back any maternity pay since I only got statutory maternity pay anyway. Actually no, I got maternity allowance since I didn't qualify for SMP because I earn too little. HR dept only informed me of this 5 days before my due date but that's another story I guess.

I don't think I can apply to transfer back unless a post becomes available and then it would have to be for the hours offered and not necessarily any to suit me. Worth looking into though, thanks.