Can any one help me? my employer has hired a permanent member of staff to cover my maternity leave and i haven't even left to have my baby yet. is this allowed?? he keeps asking me whether i'm going to return after having the baby and when i say yes he says, no you won't you'll be a lady of leisure. I am management level and unless some one leaves the company who as at the same level as me before i return i won't have a position to come back to. i thought by law you could only hire a temp or temp to permanent depending if i return. Not giving my job to a new full time permanent member of staff. does anyone know anything about this??

im not 100% sure but im sure they cant employ a permanet staff member, i was the same and was the manager of my store, they got a cover manager and when it came to my time back i was asked if i would like to return, i declined as i moved house and it was too far to travel and sort my daughter out and my husband-to-be has a good enough wage ( with a few compromises ).
i would ask your hr department as im sure he is not allowed to say what he said either ( even if he thought he was being funny )
sorry if thats not much help x

I am not 100% but that doesn't sound right to me as you have every right to come back to your job after you have your lo. I would check with a union if you have one or else Citizens Advice. You are not officially leaving so they just can't replace you as you will still be on their books as a member of staff. You will just be on Maternity Leave. I work in an eduction college and it is only temp staff that cover Maternity and once you come back they are finished unless there was some agreement wtih them to stay on at some other temp position.

They can replace you with who they like but they ahve to have an equal post available for you when you come back to work!

As Craftycharli says they have to offer you an equal position with equal pay but not necessarily your old job back!

I'm in a similar position, they have hired someone toobut all along they have said they are not replacing me. Today I've received an e-mail from my line manager in response to my request to return part time, saying that she is waiting for a response from HR about whether I fit in with their requirements! My boss started in oct, I started feb 08 and ran the department for nearly 6 months when my old boss left. She's never really liked me, especially after going on my computer after i left and reading a load of e-mails I sent complaining about her! I'm sure she's trying to bad mouth me and push me out of my job. I'm planning to meet with the company's hr person soon, and I have a friend who works in hr who I'm going to ask to check out my rights!

Good luck!

Oh my God, how does your boss have the right to read your emails? Surely that's not right?