Coming back to work from maternity leave, Company wanting me to move to another "shop"

[Vistilantus]

Greetings all,

 

I am due back to work in March after 9 months off on maternity leave, I suspect my employer is planning on moving me to another "shop" which is 30miles (1hour+ travel time taking traffic into account) away. Is this legal and do i have any rights?

 

Here is some background,

 

I worked for company "A" for ~5 years at location A, i was then transfered to company "B" at location B for ~3 years. I received P45 from company "A" at this time (both companies are the same type of business, owner of company B is a director in company "A") After those 3 years, i was then transferred back to company "A", location C, but never received a P45, I worked at location C for approx 3 years before being moved to a new "shop" at location D and made manager 3 months before i left on maternity, Locations A-D were all local, within 10 miles of my home.

 

I have heard on the grapevine that a new "shop" has been bought at location E but this is much farther than the rest of the places and involves significantly more travel time (potentially adding 2+ hours onto my day due to it being near a city centre) and there has been a meeting called next week for all the people who work at location D. We suspect that someone is going to be asked to move to location E.

 

I have no written contract and there are no company procedures / policies in writing. The company is small-ish with approx 50 employees over 4 "shops"

 

also note that the company and myself is located in Scotland.

 

Any help / advice is welcomed.

 

Thank you.

[boswell]

Rather than rush in, i would wait until after the meeting to decide my next move.

The Contract of Employment does not always have to be written to be Legal and can consist of a number of sources in relation to your company ie, oral, written, implied, or contained within a letter of offer of employment.

Have a look here at this link for more info, but i would wait till after the meeting to decide my next move.

What a contract of employment is | Business Link

[honeybee13]

Hi there. I agree with Boswell about not jumping the gun. But if you're like me, you want to understand your position in advance.

 

I just looked at the ACAS website that has quite a lot on Maternity rights and a little about returning to work and 'suitable' arrangements for alternative work. You could have a glance through that and ring their helpline if you have more questions. Also, as I said to gayzee, I would look at the CAB website and maybe ring them as well.

 

And I guess the DWP have guidelines on their website.

 

I don't know which set of regulations it comes under, but I thought carers were meant to have some flexibility. Not sure if carers include parents of young babies. Can you help here, guys?

[honeybee13]

Hello again. This is what the DWP website says about returning to work.

 

This doesn't mention 'suitable' alternative work, but I think that's on the ACAS site.

 

Returning to work

 

When you return to work after ordinary 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, unless your employer shows that it’s not reasonably practicable for them to take you back in your original job (for example, because the job no longer exists). In that case, you must be offered alternative work with terms and conditions as if you hadn’t been absent.

 

• Employment contracts (employment section)
  

[Vistilantus]

Thanks for your help I'll have a look through the links provided and see what i can find. I'm not planning on jumping the gun I just want to know my rights, if any, that i may have incase they do try to force me out to this other place.

 

thanks again!

 

I'll post back after the meeting

[honeybee13]

Good luck. Go in with all the ammunition you can.

 

I'll be thinking of you. HB:)