Mat leave cover promoted

I am on maternity leave and have just been informed that my manager has been transferred and the person covering my maternity leave has been promoted and given her job - the job was not advertised at all and I was not even given the opportunity to apply for the role - do I have any rights??? Thanks

Well you have the right to maternity leave, which you've got. Just because the person filling in for you got promoted doesn't mean you would have got it. As long as the job you were doing before taking leave is still there when you return, I don't see that you would be entitled to more.

How could you do the job anyway if you are maternity leave?

I was just wondering should I not have at least had the opportunity to apply for the job ... who is to say I wouldn't have gone back to work early if there was a promotion opportunity seeing as I was the one who gave the person who got the job all of their training. My husband is out of work and a job opportunity with a wage increase would be very welcome at the moment.

I think there are some legal obligations on employers about keeping employees informed when on maternity leave. However, I don't think that an employer is obliged to have an open competition for vacant posts.

Do you have a union that you could raise this with? Have you spoken to your employer to express your concern?