Mum 'laughed at' for job request after maternity

Sarah Lindup said she was "laughed at" for wanting her old job at Bright HR back after maternity leave

A saleswoman said she was laughed at when she asked to return to her role after having a baby, a tribunal heard.

Sarah Lindup, 27, who worked for Manchester-based Bright HR, lost her former job in the web team sales department while she was on maternity leave in 2022.

She had been earning about £65,000 a year before she left to have her daughter, but was given a role earning around £24,000 afterwards, the tribunal in Manchester heard.

The panel found the maternity leave was "fundamental" to why she had not been able to return to her role, and found in her favour.

The hearing was told Ms Lindup had been an award-winning employee who had generated over £1m a year in sales for the company.

But Ms Lindup said when she went for a meeting with her new boss to talk about returning to the same team, she was "laughed at", as though "returning to the web team was a ludicrous idea".

'Irrational'

The tribunal heard the meeting was repeatedly referred to by the sales boss, Jayde Stott, as a "mum-to-mum chat", which the panel found to have "significantly undermined or degraded her employment status".

The tribunal found that Ms Stott's manner was deliberately "defensive and potentially insensitive".

Ms Lindup said her income dropped to around £24,000 after returning from maternity leave, which the tribunal found had "disastrous personal consequences".

Employment judge Abigail Holt said: "It was irrational for the respondent not to redeploy their award-winning web team member, who only months earlier they had feted, back to the position where she had a track record of bringing in £1.3 million in sales for them in less than a year.

"On the balance of probabilities, the only conceivable reason for the sudden volte-face in the respondent's attitude towards the claimant, and the resulting massive loss of remuneration, was her maternity leave."

A remedy hearing will take place at a later date.