After taking 12 months' maternity leave it was agreed with my current employer for me to return on a job share basis for 2.5 days per week. As the other employee in the job share was not due to return to work at that time I was granted an additional four months' unpaid sabbatical. As the job share was a new concept for my employer it was agreed in writing that it would initially be on a trial basis to be reviewed after six weeks to see if the arrangement was working. It was reviewed at that point and we were then verbally told that we would be put onto a fixed-term contract for two months.We did not receive anything further in writing at this point. We have now been told by our employer that they feel the job share is not working, but have not been told specific reasons as to why they believe this to be the case. Again we have received nothing in writing to inform us of this. The ultimatum we have now been given is to return to work for three full days and two half days per week, otherwise they can no longer offer us positions with the company. Before going on maternity leave I had done seven successful years for this employer and now feel as if I am being very harshly treated and ultimately being discriminated against.
I would appreciate your advice on the following points: 1. Were they within their rights to offer me only a trial period for this job share when I had previously been on a permanent contract before my maternity leave? 2. Should they have documented in writing to me when the job share was reviewed after six weeks that I would be put onto a fixed-term contract? 3. Should they have documented in writing the reasons why they feel the job share is not working?
…
Read Full Answer
A full-time candidate was offered a job I scored higher in interview than. Have I been discriminated against as a part-time applicant? I've been working for nine years in a large charitable organisation. My part-time job share position was changed whilst I was on maternity leave. However, when I returned from maternity leave I was asked to change my responsibilities again and resume some of the role I had been asked to give up as there was a gap in provision. This role was not an official one, but a business case was going to be drawn up to create a permanent full-time position. I covered this part time over a year and was told when the business case was approved I could apply for this as a job share. The job was advertised as both full time and job share applications would be considered. I asked my boss what would happen if they didn't find a job share and she said we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. It turned out that even though I scored higher than all other candidates in interview they offered it to a full-time applicant and told me this was a business decision and not personal. They only interviewed one other internal applicant for a job share. It felt like they did this to tick a box and go through the motions of actively recruiting for other job share candidates. I was told post interview that me getting the job was contingent on another job share applicant being successful but as none were, they gave the job to a full-time candidate. My organisation has no policies on job sharing or recruitment for job shares, and their overarching single recruitment policy states that candidates are scored and the one who gets the highest score gets the job.
I filed a grievance and they apologised for bad practice. I then appealed and the HR manager said he'd seek a solution, but nothing has happened and they are citing budget problems. Can you please advise?
…
Read Full Answer
I am currently on maternity leave and due to go back soon. I work for the NHS and, unfortunately, a number of changes have taken place within the department - including extended hours. There has therefore been a recent consultation regarding working late nights til 8pm and also working on Sundays. This is not really what I had in mind, especially as I now have to care for a young baby (and also have to commute into work). Original working hours before maternity leave were: 9am-5.30pm plus Saturdays and bank holidays on a rostered basis. I have put in a request for flexible working and also had a meeting with both my manager and HR to discuss both flexible working and the recent consultation (which has now closed: with working hours extended as above). I am still waiting to hear from them, although I have been told that if they cannot find a job share then I must return at the original hours. I am unclear legally whether they can impose these extended working hours on me and refuse a job share on the basis that they cannot recruit into it. Do you have any thoughts?…
Read Full Answer
I am currently on maternity leave and due to go back in April. I work for the NHS and, unfortunately, a number of changes have taken place within the department - including extended hours. There has therefore been a recent consultation regarding working on Sundays. This is not really what I had in mind especially as I now have to care for a young baby (and also have to commute into work). Original working hours before maternity leave were: 9am-5.30pm plus Saturdays and bank holidays on a rostered basis. I have put in a request for flexible working and also had a meeting with both my manager and HR to discuss both flexible working and the recent consultation. I have been told that if they cannot find a job share then I must return at the original hours. I am unclear legally whether they can impose these extended working hours on me and refuse a job share on the basis that they cannot recruit into it. I have said that Saturdays are plausible, but have pointed out that Sundays are not viable as I physically cannot get in via public transport for the 9am start.…
Read Full Answer
I am currently on annual leave prior to my maternity leave starting on 12th April. I am on a job-share and I work in HR. We were recently informed our office would be restructured due to cost savings and we had the first meeting with our Director about it this week. This is the consultation stage. I attended the meeting. Basically we have been told that a Satellite Office will be closed and this merger will result in the loss of some posts i.e. 1 HR Manager, 1 HR Adviser and 3 HR Assistants. We have been told that you will only be job matched if there is only 1 person for that job. If you are matched you cannot apply for any other post. Non-matched people will have to apply for roles still available. We were told we can apply on a job share basis so that's fine. But I have a couple of questions: Considering I am going to be on maternity leave, should I have to go through the same process as everyone else? Also, is what they are doing correct? Can they suddently turn around and say you have to go into a lower grade and take a demoted role? We were also told that if we didn't get the job we went for at application stage then they would look to other jobs in our Institution and failing that it would be redundancy. Can this happen to me on maternity leave? …
Read Full Answer
