Cover at work while on maternity leave

Sinead Mc1

Hi folks.
Will be heading on leave soon but am extremely stressed about the backlog I may potentially be returning to once I come back.
Last year I was moved to a different department, of the same level.
Unfortunately my replacement wasn't the best and hadnt bothered doing much work in the hope they would be moved on.
In the end they were and I ended up being pulled back to my old position. Turns out this person was not being supervised properly and wasn't doing a tap leaving me with a massive backlog.
I fought tooth and nail with my supervisor about this as my workload is huge as it is. They agreed to pass this work to someone else.
The person pulled in is slow to deal with it. It is the kind of work that is messy when left and I can see it's being avoided.
The occasional smart remark is often passed to me about picking up some of this slack but I manage to ignore it.
However, last week my supervisor made a "joke" about how "poor ....... will be returning to a load of **** when she's back".
Now I'm worried who ever will be covering me will do a half arsed job leaving me facing into months of work on return.
It's really getting me down.
Does anyone know my rights regarding adequate cover and returning to backlog after maternity leave?
I won't want to return at all at this rate 😔

Gatica

No idea, but just wanna say really sorry to hear that. It's really depressing feeling like your workplace is putting all this pressure on you. If you really think nothing could be done, would you consider looking for other work post-leave? You'd still be entitled to your maternity leave as normal, but you'd just have to give the normal notice period if you decide to leave. Hope it works out...
If you've an open enough relationship with your manager, maybe try addressing this with them? Could you say you're worried about the backlog and it's hard enough already with work and kids, you're not sure you can keep this up with another child and going back in again.

harr

Its really unfair of your boss to put you under this stress at a time when you should be enjoying your new baby and not worrying about the work load you are facing on return to work.
It kind of takes away from the whole point of maternity leave, you should definitely have a word with your boss about getting adequate cover when you are away. Maybe if your boss could get the person who will be covering you to start now so you could actually show them what’s involved.

I have covered maternity leave before but was always shown the ropes before I started and would have been expected to do the same amount of work as the lady I was covering, and in a few places I have worked with the girls in question so they could show me what to do and how they do it.
Unfortunately I have worked in places where the manager would not get cover and the work load was divided up between the rest of us in the office.

Definitely have a word with him and tell him you expect not to be returning to a mountain of unfinished or a half done workload.

firebird84

From the Maternity Protections Act, Section 26, subsection 1:C

"(c) under the contract of employment under which the employee was employed immediately before the start of that period, or, where a change of ownership such as is referred to in paragraph (a) has occurred, under a contract of employment with the successor which is identical to the contract under which the employee was employed immediately before the start of that period, and (in either case) under terms or conditions not less favourable than those that would have been applicable to the employee if she had not been so absent from work."

I would interpret that to mean that they can't be giving you a massive workload on your return as it should be as if you were there, ie. adequate cover.

firebird84

firebird84 wrote: »

I would interpret that to mean that they can't be giving you a massive workload on your return as it should be as if you were there, ie. adequate cover.

I think that is a bit of a stretch - the act is to stop women returning from maternity leave being demoted or say moved to a night shift or given less hours or other negative changes.
It doesn't mean they have to be replaced while they are gone.

OP:
Have you addressed this directly with your manager? By the sounds of it you have picked this up in passing.
Could you ignore everything from before when you return from maternity leave - delete the contents of your inbox for example?
If the work is essential they will find someone to replace you for those six or nine months - if not why should you do it when you are back?

firebird84

Deleted User wrote: »

I think that is a bit of a stretch - the act is to stop women returning from maternity leave being demoted or say moved to a night shift or given less hours or other negative changes.
It doesn't mean they have to be replaced while they are gone.

If she is working additional hours to cover the huge backlog? Or suffering negative performance impact due to the backlog? None of that would matter? Seems a bit unfair.

firebird84

firebird84 wrote: »

If she is working additional hours to cover the huge backlog? Or suffering negative performance impact due to the backlog? None of that would matter? Seems a bit unfair.

Yes that would be unfair - which is why she should address it now.

The stretch was to expect someone to cover directly. As it would be unfair to expect her to catch up and it isn't automatic that she will be replaced the only way to resolve that is that that work just isn't done.