Internal Secondment - Rights after two years

[Clairemc85]

Hi, I have been on an Internal Secondment within my organisation for three and a half year, this was anticipated to be for one year (April 2019 to March 2020). It’s is now coming to an end and my organisation want to send me back to my original substantive post. My first extension to this secondment came form HR in December 2020 for three months for the period January 2020 to March 2021, this was the email received.

Re: Development Officer - Interchange
I am writing to confirm that your temporary promotion has been extended and your terms and conditions of employment will be amended as follows:
Your terms and conditions of employment will be amended as follows:
Duration: 01 April 2019 – 31 March 2021
Job Title: Development Officer
Grade: Staff Officer (SO)
Please be advised, all other terms and conditions of employment remain unchanged.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.

This email refers to ‘Temporary Promotion’ and not secondment, HR has established via email that this was an Internal Secondment. I agreed to the above but in hindsight I did not understand the significant difference between Temporary Promotion and Secondment.

After this email I have received one of these every three month to date. I believe that a secondment should only last a maximum of two years and to date I am now sitting at 3.5 years.
I am now being told that I am being moved back to my substantive post that is of a lower grade and less money. My post through Internal Secondment is going to no longer exist. Is there anything I can do regarding this? Is there any possibility of asking for redundancy, moved to a similar graded post etc. Thank you.

[dslippy]

I do not think there is a clean answer to your question.
There is no rule of law that a secondment may last no more than two years. As you have already pointed out, the difference between a secondment and a temporary situation is not a simple clear line.
Negotiate

[atticus]

Isn't the even simper point that you have at all times had the same employer, but different roles? If you were told that you were being given a temporary promotion, then what did the word "temporary" tell you?

As to the other things, you may ask. That does not mean you will get what you ask, but you never know where the conversation may lead.

[ULA]

Clairemc85 it would appear the thread linked to below is related to your posts on this thread.

Secondment Vs Temporary Promotion - LegalBeagles Forum

Just to let you know it is more helpful for those of us advising to keep related matters on the same thread so I will merge them together