Maternity discrimination?

[papasmurf1cx]

There are place names in this and a name in the second to last paragraph. I would edit them out.

 

There does seem quite a bit of detail in this, but it would do seeing as you are not legally trained.

 

Re victimisation............. " I raised a grievance on ..date ... took leave (or whatever it was) on my return cleared my desk as I took leave owing. Placed all correspondence in my bag... give story of what happened...... stress letter not opened or read.... marched out. This letter was planted in your desk manage admitted that it was probably a mistake but still treated me in a humiliating manner. The manner of how this event transpired shows that this action was manipulated to my detriment because I had placed a grievance about the process of selection. No proper regard was made to policy of suspension procedures (You need to know what they should have done but didn't).

 

All this can be expnaded upon later when they ask for better details, as they surely will.

[mumisskint]

ET1 submission : is this working or is it too long winded / too much information? Do I need to say how this made me feel as well? The impact?

I believe I was unfairly dismissed through unfair selection for redundancy.

I believe I have been treated less favourably than someone who had not been on maternity leave and so discriminated against.

 

Background

I became pregnant in August 2009 and advised my employer when I found out a few weeks later. I advised my line manager, the companies Director X, in November 09 I wanted to stop travelling to our office in Barnstaple given the considerable stress this was causing and the potential impact this stress would have on the pregnancy. This journey from Torbay was often done at short notice , resulted in a 12 hour day, four of which would be spent in the car and whilst I was contracted to work 25 hours a week this journey resulted in TOIL of over 60 hours being accrued. I was told this was not possible and had to send my employer details from the Health and Safety Executive as to the company's obligations to conduct a pregnancy risk assessment. This was conducted and the risk in travelling accepted. As a result my hours were reduced from 25 to 20. I was offered no alternative employment to make up the hours I had lost in removing me from this risk and my pay was reduced.

 

I went onto maternity leave early at the end of February 2010 due to raised blood pressure. It was agreed a member of staff, X , would be upgraded to cover my maternity period. All tasks including the work in Barnstaple were included in this role.

 

My baby was born in May 2010.

 

I met with X about my return to work on 19th November 2010. He clearly stated he could not increase my hours but gave no reason as to why this was. He also stated that I did not want to go back to working in Barnstaple but again gave no reason why or canvassed for my opinion. He then quickly informed me that the company would be entering into a formal redundancy process and I was required to attend a meeting on December 13th where this would be discussed in more detail. He was clear all jobs were at risk. I asked him what I could do to help in terms of fundraising and was told not to worry. This conversation was witnessed by my partner.

 

I returned to work on January 4th to find that X remained in post working the hours that I could not be given back despite all staff and all contracts that I had managed before going onto maternity leave still being in place. As I used to manage X in her caseworker role before my maternity leave, this supervisory role had been taken by X and again this was not returned to me. I was given no explanation and no alternative employment at the terms and conditions I left were offered. Instead I signed a letter that stated I agreed to the changes in my terms and conditions. I was not given the opportunity to seek advice, but after my initial induction meeting was told to sign it as the Admin Officer had a copy ready for me.

 

The redundancy was conducted through a pooling process. I was assessed in the Managers pool of two people, me and my colleague Y who has the same role as me. Niether X or X were part of that pool. Based on scoring I was deemed to be the lowest and have been made redundant. X as my assessor had used incidents that allegedly had occurred whilst I was on maternity leave that I knew nothing about and could not defend myself against as part of the assessment. X however has not been made redundant. She continues to do the job I was doing prior to my maternity leave with X continuing to pick up her supervision yet X was assessed in the Caseworker pool and X in the Directors pool. During confidential scoring interviews X stated to me that X had done very well in the caseworker pool but had she been assessed in the managers pool she would not have done very well at all due to her inexperience.I challenged why she was still doing my role and was told she wasnt. I asked why her email still said 'caseworker manager' and he said it was only for a short period.

 

I have now raised these issues as a grievance with my employer. I believe as a result of this I have been potentially victimised. (I dont know how really to put this bit)

xx

[mumisskint]

Have been reading on the net as I figure I better give myself some kind of grounding. Is this right that I had a right to work for 10 days during my mat leave. I asked all the time what I could do to help out with the slash in funding, I am the main fundraiser, and I was told I couldnt do anything as I was on Mat leave, is it a statutory right to have those days? Also no risk assessment for breast feeding was done, I was expressing in a disused office with a keep out sign scribbled on the door, do they only do the risk ass in cases where baby is coming in to be fed?

[papasmurf1cx]

Have been reading on the net as I figure I better give myself some kind of grounding. Is this right that I had a right to work for 10 days during my mat leave. I asked all the time what I could do to help out with the slash in funding, I am the main fundraiser, and I was told I couldnt do anything as I was on Mat leave, is it a statutory right to have those days? Also no risk assessment for breast feeding was done, I was expressing in a disused office with a keep out sign scribbled on the door, do they only do the risk ass in cases where baby is coming in to be fed?

 

Sorry Mum can't help you on these questions, beyond my knowledge. Hopefully someone will be along whom knows.

[mumisskint]

OK!! Thank you, will just put a bit in at the end and file it today. xxx P.s Do you know who an admin is as my other half edited your recommendations yesterday but seems to have started a new post when he reposted it, dont think I can cope with two threads... any ideas?

[honeybee13]

Hello there. I saw your other thread earlier, it looked like a duplicate of something on here. If you want your threads merged, go into the other one, 'report' it to the site team by clicking on the black triangle, and ask them to merge it with this one. Shouldn't be a problem.

 

My best, HB

[elche]

Hi mum,

 

I have merged your threads for you. Sorry that your post (about the wording of your ET1) didn't get a reply. I know you got lots of advice previously re the background to this.

 

I'm not sure how things are going with the BTE legal expense insurer?

 

Speaking for myself personally, I wouldn't rely on advice from just a public and free forum for filling in my ET1. I'm not sure this is the best place for the verbatim drafting of claims - BUT - of course this doesn't preclude anyone doing this if they have time!

 

I personally think discrim claims can be a little 'tricky' because I think there are often numerous other potential claims that go along with the discrim part.

 

Can you not get any personalized advice from any of the potential free sources of advice?

 

Community Legal Advice can help you draft ET1, local CAB or Law Centre?

 

Hope this is some help.

 

Che

[elche]

Have been reading on the net as I figure I better give myself some kind of grounding. Is this right that I had a right to work for 10 days during my mat leave.

 

Yeah this is right - they are called Keeping in Touch (KIT) days.

 

Che

[mariefab]

I don't think that the KIT days are much of an issue because these are something that can be done by mutual agreement rather than as a right.

 

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1080903184&type=RESOURCES

 

I agree with papa you should include in your ET1 statement :

The date you sent your Grievance.

The general content of your Grievance

That you returned to work after a week's leave on 28th Feb.

Describe the 'clearing your draw' incident and what followed.

State whether you were informed that you were being suspended/ dismissed/ whatever on that occasion, or since.

 

By the way, did the 'letter' in question have your home address or your work address visible through the window?

Do you whether, as part of the management pool yourself, there is any reason why the information contained in the letter shouldn't have been available to you anyway?

[mumisskint]

Hello!!

Elche : thank you for the merge!! The earliest date I can get an appointment with a lawyer is March 14th and would be out of time for 3rd March for filing if I waited. So added the victimisation bit and have now filed it. Will see what happens, figure a lawyer can add to it if needs be. As for the insurance I spoke with someone Tuesday who was still saying no, 90 days etc, but complained again and he has now referred it to his boss. The CAB has a six week wait. The organisation I work for is the CAB's direct competition, I dont know if going to them would be appropriate given the circumstances .... am not sure why I am feeling anything that might look like loyalty tho!! I did try to find out lots of stuff pre doing the version and headed it up in different bits so it wasnt just long diatribe.

MarieFab : Hello! The letter was addressed to my home address. I wasnt informed of anything in terms of suspension etc just marched out, its now been confirmed that I am on holiday leave btw. The info I'm assuming was the scoring sheets and notes for the management pool /reasons for final board decision etc. So it would have had mine and my colleagues info in it throughout the whole process. My boss seemed to imply that my colleague had had the notes and she was the one who stored them in my drawer, so I could question why she was OK to have access to them and I was marched out when we do exactly the same job!

Thanks guys!! xxx

[papasmurf1cx]

Mum re the insurer... your first battle is to win legal cover. Don't give in if the boss says no either. Just keep going up the appeal process as high as you can go.

[mariefab]

Have you,at any time, requested this current period of holiday?

If not, what notice were you given that your employer required you to take holiday leave at this time?

[mumisskint]

Hi : When I went back in January it was really clear there wasnt a job left for me anymore. I was having to scrabble around for things to do to make up the 20 hours and my boss just let me get on with it and gave me no direction or long term projects to focus on, the two staff I had to manage are pretty much self managing. So I took half term off after the redundancy notice was given and went in on Monday just gone thinking I have 5 weeks holiday that has accrued over my maternity leave, there is nothing for me to do so I'll take my last few weeks as leave, not ideal in the current economic climate but, given I was getting the cold shoulder as I'd submitted the grievance by this point, it made life easier. I asked to take the leave on the Monday. It wasnt agreed until yesterday by the Chair of Trustees that I could take it and he didnt actually say I wasnt suspended, just he felt that the issues in the grievance were more important. Realistically I'd rather have been suspended then I'd still get an extra months holiday pay to keep the roof over our head for a bit longer!!

[mumisskint]

Papa, that is what I intend to do. They are still adamant that they cannot do it as I havent had the policy for 90 days yet and they do not cover anything which happened pre insurance policy being taken out, but the formal notice of redundancy selection wasnt issued until 5th of Jan so Im thinking that is when the unfair selection for redundancy comes in, in which case I had the policy, but not the 90 days. Im not really sure how to argue that point but I am trying.

[papasmurf1cx]

Papa, that is what I intend to do. They are still adamant that they cannot do it as I havent had the policy for 90 days yet and they do not cover anything which happened pre insurance policy being taken out, but the formal notice of redundancy selection wasnt issued until 5th of Jan so Im thinking that is when the unfair selection for redundancy comes in, in which case I had the policy, but not the 90 days. Im not really sure how to argue that point but I am trying.

 

How about arguing about the Victimisation when you cleared your drawers out? When is 90 days up? They may have a point, the period is to ensure they don't pick up problems as people have anticipated management action just prior to it happening.

[mumisskint]

I talked it through with a lawyer on Friday. Apparently as main head of claim would be unfair dimissal and end date is March 17th in theory ET1 submission is 3 months from that date, which brings me over the 90 days, but now Ive called about it before that and made a fuss I dont know if they will now say it was happened pre the 90 days and wont fund on those grounds. Grievance Wednesday so wish me luck xx

[honeybee13]

I wish you all the luck in the world, Mum. Please let us know how it goes.

 

HB x

[papasmurf1cx]

We're all rooting for you. Good luck.