u/Unfair_Letter_7237

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice on whether my situation sounds like potential maternity discrimination / sex discrimination / reasonable adjustment issues, and what next steps I should take.

I returned from maternity leave in January 2026 after working for the company for almost 4 years. Before maternity leave, I had a broad e-commerce/operations role covering marketplaces, fulfilment, customer service support, European operations, logistics and commercial work. I also had a long-standing remote-working arrangement for around 18–20 months before maternity leave, with no formal performance concerns raised.
Since returning, several things have happened that concern me:

My role has become much narrower and mainly focused on blogs/social media.

Many of my previous responsibilities appear to have been absorbed by another colleague.

I have not been given a clear written contract, updated duties or agreed job description despite asking. I only have an employment letter given to me in March 2025 which states my job title, full time permanent employee and payment terms.

My hours and pay have become reduced/variable, without a clear written agreement permanently changing my terms. My employer says they “accommodated” part-time work, but I never agreed to a permanent reduced role, reduced pay or only doing content. I asked to return to my full time hours and work remotely which was refused. I initially only agreed to work part time, because they were making office attendance a requirement.

My employer says I was given plenty of notice before maternity leave that the role would return to the office, but I disagree that there was any meaningful consultation. While I was still on maternity leave, I received an email saying the role had “returned” to being fully office-based, with proposed hours, telephone cover and desk allocation already set out. My boss also proposed I’d work 08:30-17:30, whereas before I was doing 09:00 -17:00. Considering I was remote before and now have a baby, and then expect me to commute 2-3h a day is extremely inconsiderate. Wouldn’t you expect your employer to consult you first before proposing anything? Anyways, we ended up on reduced hours, because I couldn’t arrange childcare for those long hours.

During my mat leave my employer changed from 2-weekly to monthly payroll, because the usual person who did it for years went on mat leave. To my surprise, I only found out by not getting paid on time. I was never given notice of the change. A company-wide payroll/HR email was sent during the end of my maternity leave but I was not included. Every single person included but me. I only saw it because a colleague forwarded it to me. In that email my employer explained the changes to payroll and some other hr related things (months later after the change).

My annual leave accrued during maternity leave was not added promptly after I returned. I had to chase repeatedly and did not know how much leave I had available until the end of holiday cycle. Honestly, I didn’t even know you accrue annual leave I was told after my return but then it took another month and a half for my employer to add it on the system.

My employer has repeatedly referred to my “remaining time” and assumed I may not be able to continue because I am to relocate end of July, even though I have not resigned or said I intend to leave. I told my employer about moving months ago. In one of the emails where I requested remote work last month my boss told me that I had previously told him about moving in April and he thanked me for extending it till end of July. I should tell him my schedule so we could plan my ‘remaining time’.

After consulting my union, I submitted a statutory flexible-working request and a reasonable-adjustment request due to ADHD, work-related neck pain and work related stress. I didn’t disclose my adhd diagnosis, until now because I felt like I was already not being taken serious anymore despite the fact I always did a good job.

Remote working has been repeatedly rejected as “not viable,” apparently before Occupational Health has assessed me. After I submitted my sick note last week my employer agreed to an occupational health assessment but outright rejected remote working as an option, because of business-critical face to face collaboration. Remote/hybrid working is used elsewhere in the business and my role before and now can 100% be performed remotely. He keeps stating that the business needs have changed. Operationally nothing has changed since my maternity leave. His collaboration is in reference to my colleague who’s in charge of customer service. I have collaborated with said colleague for 18+ months remotely with no issues.

Here’s the kicker though: my employer also suggested possible contractor work for his European company involving calls/sales/service (duties which he wants me to perform in the office), which makes me question why similar duties are now said to require permanent office attendance. I am employed by his UK company but perform duties for said European company. He essentially offered as ‘my remaining time’ is approaching I could work as a contractor and should tell him about my day rate. ‘There might be scope down the line to do contractor work’.

I have raised a formal grievance. My employer replied straight away and claimed that my remote work was a pregnancy accommodation and because I had transport issues. This is inherently false, I was a remote worker for atleast 18 months prior to being pregnant. Furthermore, I requested remote working 2 months into my employment stating that I have a long commute and think my productivity be affected. Initially my employer agreed to once a week then 3 times and later fully remote. During my time commuting to work full time I was never late or had any transport issues. There were some other questionable remarks in the reply, but I’ll leave it out.

The company has no internal HR department and has said an external HR consultant will now be involved. Occupational Health has been mentioned but not arranged yet. These are recent developments and ongoing.

Following my return, I became aware that negative comments had allegedly been made about me by my boss to colleagues regarding my work and commitment while I was absent on maternity leave. I heard this from multiple people. I was blamed for a situation that occurred in the weeks leading up to my mat leave. My boss mishandled said situation himself and used me as a scapegoat. I was told directly by my boss not to make any decisions and let him handle everything a month prior to my mat leave. Email trail shows I did exactly that.

Not sure if it’s worth mentioning. Since I started this job, every Christmas I’d be invited to the Xmas party and receive a Christmas voucher signed by my boss. These are send out via email. Every year without a fail, but nothing when I was on mat leave. Didn’t even reach out to check on me or congratulate me.

Emotionally, I feel like I have been looked at differently since having a baby, in terms of trust, commitment, responsibility and flexibility. I know that feeling is not proof by itself, but the timing and pattern concern me.

I am still employed and trying to follow the internal grievance, flexible working and OH processes, but I am also job hunting because my hours/pay feel unpredictable and I need financial stability.

I’ve contacted ACAS and my union, I’m worried about tribunal time limits because some events started around maternity leave/return, but the treatment feels ongoing. My union won’t help me with past issues prior to my membership since I only joined February, 2026. So getting legal help through them is problematic. I had really bad post partum depression and didn’t recognise signs and felt emotionally unable to cope with going through grievance procedure. I’ve done therapy and looked for help even prior to returning to work. I am in a much better headspace to deal with this. I don’t want to just walk away and find another job and regret not having escalated this.

I appreciate this was long and thank anyone reading this. Does this sound like something worth getting employment solicitor advice on? Any advice is appreciated!!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice on whether my situation sounds like potential maternity discrimination / sex discrimination / reasonable adjustment issues, and what next steps I should take.

I returned from maternity leave in January 2026 after working for the company for almost 4 years. Before maternity leave, I had a broad e-commerce/operations role covering marketplaces, fulfilment, customer service support, European operations, logistics and commercial work. I also had a long-standing remote-working arrangement for around 18–20 months before maternity leave, with no formal performance concerns raised.
Since returning, several things have happened that concern me:

My role has become much narrower and mainly focused on blogs/social media.

Many of my previous responsibilities appear to have been absorbed by another colleague.

I have not been given a clear written contract, updated duties or agreed job description despite asking. I only have an employment letter given to me in March 2025 which states my job title, full time permanent employee and payment terms.

My hours and pay have become reduced/variable, without a clear written agreement permanently changing my terms. My employer says they “accommodated” part-time work, but I never agreed to a permanent reduced role, reduced pay or only doing content. I asked to return to my full time hours and work remotely which was refused. I initially only agreed to work part time, because they were making office attendance a requirement.

My employer says I was given plenty of notice before maternity leave that the role would return to the office, but I disagree that there was any meaningful consultation. While I was still on maternity leave, I received an email saying the role had “returned” to being fully office-based, with proposed hours, telephone cover and desk allocation already set out. My boss also proposed I’d work 08:30-17:30, whereas before I was doing 09:00 -17:00. Considering I was remote before and now have a baby, and then expect me to commute 2-3h a day is extremely inconsiderate. Wouldn’t you expect your employer to consult you first before proposing anything? Anyways, we ended up on reduced hours, because I couldn’t arrange childcare for those long hours.

During my mat leave my employer changed from 2-weekly to monthly payroll, because the usual person who did it for years went on mat leave. To my surprise, I only found out by not getting paid on time. I was never given notice of the change. A company-wide payroll/HR email was sent during the end of my maternity leave but I was not included. Every single person included but me. I only saw it because a colleague forwarded it to me. In that email my employer explained the changes to payroll and some other hr related things (months later after the change).

My annual leave accrued during maternity leave was not added promptly after I returned. I had to chase repeatedly and did not know how much leave I had available until the end of holiday cycle. Honestly, I didn’t even know you accrue annual leave I was told after my return but then it took another month and a half for my employer to add it on the system.

My employer has repeatedly referred to my “remaining time” and assumed I may not be able to continue because I am to relocate end of July, even though I have not resigned or said I intend to leave. I told my employer about moving months ago. In one of the emails where I requested remote work last month my boss told me that I had previously told him about moving in April and he thanked me for extending it till end of July. I should tell him my schedule so we could plan my ‘remaining time’.

After consulting my union, I submitted a statutory flexible-working request and a reasonable-adjustment request due to ADHD, work-related neck pain and work related stress. I didn’t disclose my adhd diagnosis, until now because I felt like I was already not being taken serious anymore despite the fact I always did a good job.

Remote working has been repeatedly rejected as “not viable,” apparently before Occupational Health has assessed me. After I submitted my sick note last week my employer agreed to an occupational health assessment but outright rejected remote working as an option, because of business-critical face to face collaboration. Remote/hybrid working is used elsewhere in the business and my role before and now can 100% be performed remotely. He keeps stating that the business needs have changed. Operationally nothing has changed since my maternity leave. His collaboration is in reference to my colleague who’s in charge of customer service. I have collaborated with said colleague for 18+ months remotely with no issues.

Here’s the kicker though: my employer also suggested possible contractor work for his European company involving calls/sales/service (duties which he wants me to perform in the office), which makes me question why similar duties are now said to require permanent office attendance. I am employed by his UK company but perform duties for said European company. He essentially offered as ‘my remaining time’ is approaching I could work as a contractor and should tell him about my day rate. ‘There might be scope down the line to do contractor work’.

I have raised a formal grievance. My employer replied straight away and claimed that my remote work was a pregnancy accommodation and because I had transport issues. This is inherently false, I was a remote worker for atleast 18 months prior to being pregnant. Furthermore, I requested remote working 2 months into my employment stating that I have a long commute and think my productivity be affected. Initially my employer agreed to once a week then 3 times and later fully remote. During my time commuting to work full time I was never late or had any transport issues. There were some other questionable remarks in the reply, but I’ll leave it out.

The company has no internal HR department and has said an external HR consultant will now be involved. Occupational Health has been mentioned but not arranged yet. These are recent developments and ongoing.

Following my return, I became aware that negative comments had allegedly been made about me by my boss to colleagues regarding my work and commitment while I was absent on maternity leave. I heard this from multiple people. I was blamed for a situation that occurred in the weeks leading up to my mat leave. My boss mishandled said situation himself and used me as a scapegoat. I was told directly by my boss not to make any decisions and let him handle everything a month prior to my mat leave. Email trail shows I did exactly that.

Not sure if it’s worth mentioning. Since I started this job, every Christmas I’d be invited to the Xmas party and receive a Christmas voucher signed by my boss. These are send out via email. Every year without a fail, but nothing when I was on mat leave. Didn’t even reach out to check on me or congratulate me.

Emotionally, I feel like I have been looked at differently since having a baby, in terms of trust, commitment, responsibility and flexibility. I know that feeling is not proof by itself, but the timing and pattern concern me.

I am still employed and trying to follow the internal grievance, flexible working and OH processes, but I am also job hunting because my hours/pay feel unpredictable and I need financial stability.

I’ve contacted ACAS and my union, I’m worried about tribunal time limits because some events started around maternity leave/return, but the treatment feels ongoing. My union won’t help me with past issues prior to my membership since I only joined February, 2026. So getting legal help through them is problematic. I had really bad post partum depression and didn’t recognise signs and felt emotionally unable to cope with going through grievance procedure. I’ve done therapy and looked for help even prior to returning to work. I am in a much better headspace to deal with this. I don’t want to just walk away and find another job and regret not having escalated this.

I appreciate this was long and thank anyone reading this. Does this sound like something worth getting employment solicitor advice on? Any advice is appreciated!!