Maternity Leave - Help No Position At Work For Me Anymore

[Dragonbub]

Hey Jen,
What the others are saying is right. It is in the Workplace Relations Act I think, have a look on line and see what it says on maternity leave. All organisations have to abide by this act because it is a Commonwealth Act. It outlines what the company has to offer in terms of maternity leave. They have to have a job for you when you get back. If they have filled your position, then they have to offer a similar position on the same pay, or kick the person out that they have replaced you with. They are not allowed to give the person filling in for you your job even if they are better at it than you. They also have to make it very clear to your replacement that it is only a maternity leave contract, and that they will have to vacate the job when you come back. If they have not done this, then they are in breach of the Act and may be liable.

The idea is to give you every chance of returning back to work, and have to prove that they have done all they can. If there is genuinely no job to come back to, then they will have to make you redundant, and prove that there really is no position to go back to (a redundancy is saying the position is no longer needed, not the person).

Be mindful also that it is a breach of the Equal Opportunity Act to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy or family, and if they don't want you back because you have had maternity leave, then they could be liable for this too.

You can seek advice from the union even if you are not a member. Or if you are still concerned, you can call the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and they may be able to assist you.

Good luck! And remember, you have a right to that job, it is not your fault that the company don't know their HR and IR responsibilities (can you tell that I am in HR/IR?)