Back to work after maternity leave

Gambler

Mrs. Gambler is due back in work next week after 9 months maternity leave.

She is not going back full time but 3 days per week but is worried about our son settling in nursery as when she collected him from his first two taster sessions before Xmas he was inconsolable.

Anyway we said we would give it a try and see how he gets on.

Today, she is stressed out even more as she has received a letter from work. She is a manager for local government and they have been carry out a 'job matching' exercise for quite a while now.

To retain her current grade a score of 559 points is required, result came through today 558 and so a downgrade and probable significant decrease in pay.

I am livid as she spent the last few weeks before her maternity leave working hard to make sure everything was prepared for an important audit to be carried out. They have sneakily put the audit off to coincide with her return.

What can we do, i am tempted to say don't go back !! Can you change your mind and decide to take the full 12 months maternity leave? (and use this time to put the appeal together).

Justie

I thought it was the law that they had to offer a position of equal value to women returning from maternity leave?

crispeater

Justie wrote:

I thought it was the law that they had to offer a position of equal value to women returning from maternity leave?

i agree, i believed that they would have to offer a position at the same grade/pay as what you left with..

joanne0620

This is indeed correct, I'm still on Mat Leave and have just come back from my Flexible Working interview where this was mentioned.

Spendless

Gambler wrote:

What can we do, i am tempted to say don't go back !! Can you change your mind and decide to take the full 12 months maternity leave? (and use this time to put the appeal together).

Has she been paid over and above statuory maternity pay? If she has you either have to return to work for so long or pay the surplus back. As to whether she is allowed to say changed my mind will now be taking 12 months maternity leave when she'd already said I'm coming back not sure:cool:

Lillibet_2

Legally you have to give 28 days notice if you intend to lengthen (or shorten) your maternity leave so if she is due back in under this amount of time then technically her employers are not obliged to consdier her request however there is nothing to stop her making the request anyway, they may still say yes.

Good luc & HTH;)

hayleyc_2

Considering that she is only one point below the required level, can she appeal against the score and get an extra point? Perhaps if she makes the argument that she's been on maternity leave for x months and therefore may be at a dis-advantage to others who've been at work. Also with these scoring systems, doesn't it also depend what other people got? If others are below the 559 point scale then she may be fine.

WestonDave

How on earth can they carry out any kind of assessment while she's on 9 months maternity leave? As she works for local government perhaps she might consider joining Unison (the main Union) and utilising their services!

From what (little) I know of employment rights, messing with women on maternity leave is one of the most high risk things you can do as an employer so this is definitely time to check your rights and make it clear that this is what you are going to do. Chances are given the slim margins and her circumstances it won't be worth them ending up at an Employment Tribunal over and they'll quietly give her the extra point!

Fleago

It sounds to me like it is the Single Status exercise that has been going on in local authorities for ages now, certainly here in Scotland, during which ALL employees jobs are being looked at and from which people may find themselves being downgraded, put up a grade or stay the same. If this is what it is about, there should be an appeals process and, I believe, if a person is down graded there will be some form of salary protection for a while.

Even if this is what is happening to Mrs Gambler, I would suggest she contacts her Union, or joins one if she's not a member.

Hope this helps,

Fleago

inkie

Are other employees being job matched , if so, then there is hardly a case for discrimination against someone who has been on mat leave, surely. However, there would be some salary protection which would give you time to look for something more suitbale and more agreeable salary wise.

Janepig

The other thing that nobody has mentioned is to try not to worry too much about your little boy going to nursery. Unfortunately you will feel permanently guilty about him being there, there's not alot you can do about that, but he will settle in and I'm sure he'll enjoy himself. You usually find that they have a bit of a squawk while you're in earshot, just to make sure you're feeling sufficiently guilty, then start enjoying themselves the minute you're out of the way!!!!

And I'm sure there must be an appeals process for your wife's job - we've just recently been through a job evaluation and there was quite a stringent appeals process afterwards. And I agree that messing with someone on maternity leave is dodgy ground for any employer.

Jxx