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Maternity issues at work - urgent!

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Karisgould

Junior Member
I have been an employee at my workplace since July 2013. I went on maternity leave in January 2015 and applied for flexible working in October 2015. I was told that the decision of my request lay with the Director of my department; however, my immediate line manager wrote a refusal letter on 7th January 2016 before I was due back at work on 11th. In this, my request was rejected with no alternative arrangement suggestions, and I assume that I was expected to go back to work as normal the following Monday. Obviously this couldn't happen, and having taken annual leave previously in order to allow them time to make a decision about my request, I was then forced to take more annual leave while I put forward an appeal to the decision. Including the appeal process, this all took more than three months - am I right in believing that this is a breach of the legal flexible working request policy?
My appeal was dismissed a few days ago with a few suggestions regarding how returning to work can be made easier for me, but these aren't permanent and I will ultimately end up in the same position I am in now. I have been on sick leave now since 5th February until 19th due to work-related stress, and I am due back at work on Monday 22nd.
My problem now is that I don't want to go back to work at all. I have lost sleep over the past few months due to the stress of it all, and on a more personal note I have gained weight and feel irritable towards family members. I feel like my request wasn't handled reasonably, i.e. taking longer than three months, and it being handled by the wrong person resulting in avenues not being explored that could have been explored if by the right person, and the resulting effect being that the whole thing took a very long time with a detrimental impact on my mental health and my living situation.
During the months that my request was with management, my line manager made suggestions on three separate occasions that I would be leaving the job should my request be refused: the first was at the initial flexible working meeting, when she asked 'What would happen' if the request was refused, to which I answered that it wasn't an appropriate question because if the decision was being made based purely on business reasons, then 'what would happen' really shouldn't have mattered to them. It's my thought that she wanted to know what my actions would be upon a refusal and if they would personally be affected by those actions - in other words, covering her own back; the second occasion was when I was requesting annual leave to give extra time for the initial decision to be made in order to not have to return to work under my circumstances. My line manager stated in similar wording (I have the email to prove this) that she didn't want me to use too much annual leave in case I end up owing money to HR 'should I choose to leave' - now, I don't believe that if I hadn't just been on maternity leave and was requesting annual leave as normal, there would have been a question regarding my intention to stay or go as an employee. It is also worth mentioning that by the time she had sent this email, my refusal letter had been posted by her but I hadn't yet received it, meaning that she knew her decision and was preempting my resignation; the third instance was (also in email) when I was in the process of writing an appeal, when my line manager emailed me to ask how I planned to proceed with my return to work. She wanted to know my decision by the end of the week (Friday 22nd January, even though I was on annual leave at this time) so she could reorganise my workload among the staff. This was stated as one of the reasons she was unable to accommodate my flexible working request, and I therefore didn't think that reorganising the work was possible. All of these instances have made me feel as though I am being pushed out, that the flexible working refusal is a forgone conclusion and that my only option is to leave.
My issue now is that I am required back at work for at least 3 months before I can hand in my notice, and if I don't I am required to pay back the 12 weeks' half pay of maternity leave that my employer gave me in addition to Statutory Maternity Pay. I think that in these circumstances, this is extremely unfair as it is being made impossible for me to return to work. My reasons for requesting flexible working are that I am unable to afford childcare (despite some help from government and childcare vouchers from my employer) and the fact that I am still breastfeeding my son and intend to continue this until he wishes to be weaned.
There is also the issue of being forced to resign and then having this reflect badly on me for future job opportunities - it doesn't look good to have resigned without something to walk into, even though I have good reason.
So, in short, I have a few questions rather than just one:
1) My contract says I have to give four weeks' notice, but can I resign with immediate effect due to the stress of the situation? If so, do I need another note from my doctor?
2) Can I ask HR to be abolished of the responsibility to pay back my maternity money due to the nature of my individual circumstances? Technically, even though I have been on annual leave and then off sick, I have been 'back at work' for six weeks this week - I would imagine the amount I would have to repay will be reduced by now
3) If this is impossible, can I tell give them a monthly figure of what I can afford (i.e. not much!) to pay back the maternity money until it has all been paid off?
4) Can I request that, since this is effectively a constructive dismissal considering the fact that I want to return to my job but am unable, I want some compensation for what I have gone through both for the injury to my feelings and so I am financially stable until I can find appropriate employment - without going to a tribunal? Either that, or an enhanced redundancy package so that I won't technically have 'resigned' at all? It might be worth me mentioning that before all of this, I was very close friends with my line manager both in and out of work, but as soon as she became my manager she ceased all friendly contact and spoke to me only regarding my flexible working request - this has contributed to my stress and depression, and makes me feel very uneasy about returning to work.

Apologies for the very long message - I thought it important to give you all of the information straight away.

Thank you
Karis
 


shegerianlaw

Junior Member
All depends on your contract, but if it remains only four weeks, then you can talk to your employers and tell them your health issue or give them any certified doctors' medical reports or certificates. As you have to repay then talk with your HR if he agree with you then it's ok, you can leave the job, but if he said you have to serve a notice period then you have to pay it. You can also leave a job without serving any notice period, but then your employers would not give any experience letter or reference from the company.
 

eerelations

Senior Member
All depends on your contract, but if it remains only four weeks, then you can talk to your employers and tell them your health issue or give them any certified doctors' medical reports or certificates. As you have to repay then talk with your HR if he agree with you then it's ok, you can leave the job, but if he said you have to serve a notice period then you have to pay it. You can also leave a job without serving any notice period, but then your employers would not give any experience letter or reference from the company.
Ummm, given that OP is probably not in the US, everything you've gone to the trouble of typing might be completely incorrect.
 

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