I am due to return to work later this month after taking the full 52 weeks maternity leave. Until last week I was given the impression my request (verbal) to work part time would be granted. I have a lot of annual leave to use so was going to use it to extend my time off work. Last week, however, I as told by my line manager my job was going to be a 50/50 job share and because they didn't have anyone else in place to job share yet I was responsible for the full-time job. Apart from shock, I feel let down. My boss has always encouraged me to take as much time off as I could afford and to only come back to work a day or two because as she puts it 'you never get that time back with your children'. I have since read the job share policy which states discussions should have taken place before I started my maternity leave. This one is tricky because due to family circumstances just before I was due to go off I left quite suddenly, although I did go back to tie up loose ends. My question really is can a job share be forced on me? A part-time position, which I thought I was going to have, suits me and my family better and would have given me more time off with my family.
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Whilst I was on maternity leave, there was a business restructure although the department I previously worked in was unaffected. During discussions about my return to work before the end of my first six months, I discussed with my manager that a new role had been created as a part of the restructure which my name had been allocated to and what were my thoughts versus returning to my old role. I didn't voice a preference at this stage. During later discussions (still prior to six months) I was told that the new role was no longer available, but that there was another role for me (no mention at this stage of the one I left) although I would need to return after six months. I was reluctant to go back before nine months, but it was suggested (not said out loud) that there may not be a suitable role for me if I chose to take the 12 months so I reluctantly agreed to go back after seven months. I am now not happy with my decision to return so early and feel I was bullied into going back to this role to avoid being made redundant or forced to return full time (I currently do 4 long days so 5 hours less than contracted). Do I have any rights though once I accepted the role on offer?
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I am due to return to work next week after taking 39 weeks' maternity leave. The company I was working for got taken over shortly before I left. I have not signed a new contract with the new company or anything yet. The role I left was a full time admin assistant role and I have had to reapply for that job as it was advertised internally and I've been told that if I don't get it then I do have a job on sales when I go back. Can they do that and advertise the job which I was doing, meaning I'm not guaranteed the job which I left doing when I go back?
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I have taken 39 weeks maternity leave and am due to return to work in a couple of weeks. I had a meeting a couple of weeks ago to discuss my return to work, and was disappointed to find that the position I had is no longer available. The manager has decided to split my role into three separate jobs. He has given two other people a number of the tasks I was doing on my own, and I feel I have been left with the best of a bad bunch! He says that they had to reorganise the company due to business needs, but I was not included in any consultation process. As my job as it was no longer exists, should I not have been offered redundancy? I have raised a grievance, but they say the job they are offering is of a similar nature and is suitable and appropriate - however if they have taken tasks off me, how can this be the case? Also, who's opinion is it that it isn't less favourable - as I see it, I am being given a lesser role, however they say it's not. Do I have to accept this?
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I have recently had my flexible work request denied after asking to reduce my days from 5 to 3 when I return after my maternity leave. They asked me to come in for a meeting (after the 28 days deadline) and they asked my reasons for putting in my request. I stated it was so I could care for my child who has some medical problems (severe eczema and milk allergy) and I have been medically advised to continue breastfeeding and so full-time childcare is not possible at the moment. The letter makes no reference to the reasons why I have asked to reduce my hours and states it has been refused because of the additional costs to recruit a job share and that there would be more man management time for my boss if there is a job share. They state that the proposed hours will have a detrimental impact on quality and that being available during the normal working week is imperative. Since I have been on maternity leave my boss has employed a new person and he let her reduce her days to 4 due to childcare, even though the role she applied for was advertised as full time and this person is a former colleague at his previous work so it seems there is some flexibility for some. I now have 14 days to appeal and my daughter was seen by a consultant at the hospital today who said I need to continue breast feeding as that is my only option so he said he would write a letter which may help with the appeal. Do you have any advice? I am happy to be flexible and reduce to 4 days which I know they let the other person do but if they still say no I think I may have to resign which is a scary thought.
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