I am due to return to work after Additional Maternity Leave and have been told that my old job 'no longer exists'. I have been having discussion for 2 months about possible suitable alternatives, and while roles have generically been discussed, no formal job descriptions have been provided or made to me in writing.
I have now received a job description for a role and told that it is 'equivalent' to my old role. My old manager is unable to provide me with any details of the role, including simple basics such as where it is based. They have also been unable to confirm whether the role is on the same Terms and Conditions, Salary, and Benefits as my previous role.
This was provided to me on e-mail just 1.5 days before my planned return to work. I am a mum of twin boys and have reasonably tried to be flexible and open about what role I could take on, but now find myself in a position where I am potentially returning to a role which has never previously been discussed with me, where there has been no assessment of my Flexible Working request, and they cannot even specify location. Given that, in my view, my employer has failed to provide me with any details of a new role in a reasonably timely manner, I feel I have little alternative but to leave. I have 7 years’ service and feel very poorly treated.
Is there a case for a tribunal claim given the way my employer has acted in providing me so little information so late in the process, leaving me with, I feel, no option but to resign?
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I am due to return back to work Mid July 2013 following 52 weeks maternity leave. There has been a restructure in the company and I now have a new Manager. This Manager contacted me by phone approximately 4 weeks asking me what my intentions were on returning to work in terms of hours and days. I confirmed verbally that I was taking 52 weeks leave and that I would like to return on reduced days and hours. It was confirmed verbally that this was no problem and would be ok. However, I was then contacted two days later to advise that this may not be ok and that I would need to put my request in writing and have a meeting. I did this and have now had my request for flexible working turned down on the reasons that it does not meet the business demands and needs at this time. This call was pre-empted early and I was not going to apply for flexible working hours until I needed to. Can they ask me early what my intentions are? Things could change in the next 4-5 months for the company or myself and does this mean that I can now not put another request in nearer the time for me to return?
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I am currently in my 7th month of maternity leave. Prior to this I was working full time. I submitted my flexible working request in writing in January - requesting to work 2 days a week. My manager asked to meet with me a week later - he did not inform me of my right to be accompanied at the meeting. At the meeting he basically just read my letter and said he'd be in touch. He wrote back exactly one calendar month later to say that he would like to meet me again to discuss my request further and the possibility of a job share. I telephoned him to arrange a date/time and he mentioned that I might like to bring along a friend.
At the second meeting I was accompanied by a colleague. It was pretty obvious that my request was going to be rejected and today I received a letter confirming this (this letter was written within a week of the meeting so no issues there). My manager has used 4 of the 8 reasons he could have to decline my request, primarily citing increased costs if a job share was in place. He has quoted £5k - this is equivalent to 1 extra day a week (as in me working 2 days and the job share working 4 days over a 5 day week - therefore both of us working 1 full day together). The letter says I now have 14 days to appeal.
A colleague returned from maternity leave in 2012 and was allowed to job share with only a half day handover. A member of my own team returned from maternity leave in late 2011 and a role was created specifically for her to accommodate her flexible working request. My parents in law have now kindly offered to care for our two children an extra day a week so I can in fact return to work 3 days week. I would like to appeal - have the examples given above set a precedent? Should I try to renegotiate and offer to work 3 days and suggest that a half day handover is adequate? Any advice will be much appreciated!
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I am manager of a call centre and two staff have recently been on maternity leave and come back requesting flexible working [part-time]. I agreed the first one, but the second wants the same days as the other two, which leaves me down on staff to cover Thursdays and Fridays. Meanwhile another member of staff has recently moved their shift for other reasons [ie they are not a parent] to Mon-Weds. I rejected the second woman's request, but she is claiming that this is discriminatory since the other woman was granted her request as was a non-parent and she is a single mother without childcare for Thursday and Fridays. Am I within my rights to reject her claim, given that I have granted the other two or does this set a precedent? Does flexible working legislation mean that parents have more rights with regard to flexible working? I do not want to lose this worker, but she does not appear able to compromise.
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I am a single working mum of two children, 12 and 11. I currently work for a supermarket 3 days in the week 9-3. My manager has informed me that I have to start working Saturdays 12-6 which I have explained I can't do as I have no childcare. I was then told to go away and think of a compromise or find someone to have my children. In a further meeting they hinted that I could keep my current days, but stay till 6pm but again I have no childcare for the few hours and my local childminders won't have them for 2 hours plus the cost is more than I would be earning so also defeats the object of working those extra hours. Can my employer force me to work Saturdays or long hours?
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