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I have been employed with my company for around 7 years, and was promoted up to 'Team leader' 3 years ago, with one member of staff reporting in to me. I had a good relationship with my Employer, but was unfortunately diagnosed with Mental Health issues which I believe were caused by workplace bullying -I took a significant period of time off work due to the illness, and have been receiving regularly prescribed medication and therapy for well over a year. I complied with all Workplace requirements throughout this time (Weekly call etc).
When my period of illness came to a close, I returned to work for around a month before triggering Maternity leave (1st born child). I returned to work as usual once this was complete. (As a side garnish of detail, i had asked the company to keep me informed regularly of workplace developments etc, but this did not happen).
NOTE: My department is split over 3 countries (USA, UK, India). Although the bulk of the team used to be based in the UK (Including my manager) by this point in the timeline, everybody (including my manager) is now based in India, with the exception of my Direct report, meaning we are the only two left in the UK.
Upon my return to work, i was upset and unhappy, and to quote what i said to my Fiance ''I don't feel like a team leader anymore. Ever since i returned, i feel like my manager just ignores me. He goes to my direct report whenever he needs something, and she goes directly to him, i don't feel like i have any level of responsibility, and i'm doing the job that i used to do before i was promoted...my Manager has even asked my direct report to assign me work on a few occasions!!!''. I decided to keep my chin up and carry on with work, hoping that as i was brought up to speed, the status quo would return to normal. It didn't change over the next few months.
Then the furlough scheme came in. And guess who was selected to go on the scheme? me....and only me! The reason they gave was that they were unable to Furlough anybody from the Indian office, which left them with us two working in the UK. Despite my direct report having significantly less 'time in service', they chose to Furlough me instead due to ''Not being up to speed due to being on Maternity leave''. (Note: I was crying on the call when I was told this, as I felt it was a significant step back due to my Mental Health issues, as i was finally getting back into the swing of work).
I am still on Furlough, and the company has now announced it is making redundancies. It now appears the company will be looking to make me redundant, and not my direct report.
In my view, they are discriminating based on Maternity leave - am i protected? And i don't know enough regarding MH to even suggest whether they have met their duty of care as employers, or how on earth i could evidence this at a Tribunal.
Any help/advice would be really appreciated!
When my period of illness came to a close, I returned to work for around a month before triggering Maternity leave (1st born child). I returned to work as usual once this was complete. (As a side garnish of detail, i had asked the company to keep me informed regularly of workplace developments etc, but this did not happen).
NOTE: My department is split over 3 countries (USA, UK, India). Although the bulk of the team used to be based in the UK (Including my manager) by this point in the timeline, everybody (including my manager) is now based in India, with the exception of my Direct report, meaning we are the only two left in the UK.
Upon my return to work, i was upset and unhappy, and to quote what i said to my Fiance ''I don't feel like a team leader anymore. Ever since i returned, i feel like my manager just ignores me. He goes to my direct report whenever he needs something, and she goes directly to him, i don't feel like i have any level of responsibility, and i'm doing the job that i used to do before i was promoted...my Manager has even asked my direct report to assign me work on a few occasions!!!''. I decided to keep my chin up and carry on with work, hoping that as i was brought up to speed, the status quo would return to normal. It didn't change over the next few months.
Then the furlough scheme came in. And guess who was selected to go on the scheme? me....and only me! The reason they gave was that they were unable to Furlough anybody from the Indian office, which left them with us two working in the UK. Despite my direct report having significantly less 'time in service', they chose to Furlough me instead due to ''Not being up to speed due to being on Maternity leave''. (Note: I was crying on the call when I was told this, as I felt it was a significant step back due to my Mental Health issues, as i was finally getting back into the swing of work).
I am still on Furlough, and the company has now announced it is making redundancies. It now appears the company will be looking to make me redundant, and not my direct report.
In my view, they are discriminating based on Maternity leave - am i protected? And i don't know enough regarding MH to even suggest whether they have met their duty of care as employers, or how on earth i could evidence this at a Tribunal.
Any help/advice would be really appreciated!
So i'm satisfied that there is a legitimate case to be made under S18 - is there any right to claim for workplace bullying which may have exacerbated or triggered my MH issues?
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