Courier du taf: “my company no longer wants to replace maternity leave”

Alex’s question

Dear Stefania,

I am writing to you with a hint of anger and a hint of incomprehension. Apparently my company is facing financial problems and has decided to address them through new measures.

One of these measures includes the cessation of replacement of maternity leave. I specify “maternity”, because there was no mention of “parental” or “paternity” leave, but only of “maternity”.

Beyond the obvious discrimination of the terms used, the few colleagues who are about to go on maternity leave feel guilty, and the others who had a plan for a baby in mind say that in the end they will postpone it…

I’m not even talking about the guilty conversation that this may entail (“Are you pregnant? Damn, this is ruining us, we’ll have to get your files…”), nor about the dangerous reorganization of the departments involved…

What a paradoxical universe in which it is necessary to “rearm France demographically”, but to do so you risk your professional career…

In short, all this to ask: is this situation normal? What can we do about it?

Thank you in advance for your wise advice,

Good to you,

Alex

The response from our human resources manager

Hi Alex,

Ahhhhh maternity leave, yes, leave that concerns women, is this why we always have to defend it or justify it?

Well, if I allow myself a quick observation:

• We know about discrimination in hiring because of a real or perceived pregnancy: “Understand, Chloe, at your age, you may want a child soon. Maxime too, but he won’t have to wear it, so we’ll hire Maxime. » Same background, same skills, but… there you go.
• Then, we see the pay discrimination: “Julie, we won’t give you a raise this year, you just returned from maternity leave, you haven’t contributed to the growth of the company… even if, before that, you blew your targets for 18 months. »
• Then, the one relating to career development: “Sarah, the position will go to Jean-Patrick, this year he will be more reliable; he will not fail to give birth, even if he does not have your experience. »
• And now, welcome discrimination against non-replacement of maternity leave! The idea that not replacing employees on maternity leave can save the company from bankruptcy is strange – while pointing the finger at the responsibility of future mothers for the overload of work imposed on others obviously wouldn’t be funny otherwise!

Despite the absurdity and illegality of these situations, unfortunately we must adapt to this reality and clearly right now you are at the center of the storm.

The right to maternity leave

So to get everyone to agree: maternity leave is a right, established by law. Articles L1225-16 and following of the Labor Code protect this right, guaranteeing future mothers a minimum of 16 weeks of absence legitimate. They have other rights related to pregnancy, such as absolute protection against dismissal, authorization to be absent for medical visits, etc.

And during this leave (or the others)?

Nothing forces your employer to replace an absent employee regardless of the reason. Instead, he has the obligation to organize the continuity of the activity. To do this, he can redistribute tasks to others. In this case it must guarantee three essential things:

• The people appointed must have the skills to carry out their new missions.
• The additional workload must be bearable without compromising their balance.
• Finally, we need to ensure that employees buy into these missions. This last point is often overlooked, unfortunately.

If this mission transfer is well prepared – with a clear mission sheet, training, workload monitoring and, why not, a bonus – this temporary organization can be perfectly acceptable and, yes, it can even help you save a little . As an HR person, I could totally consider this solution, if it is well explained and employees are properly supported.

The problem, in your case, seems to lie in the way this decision is communicated.

Is this discrimination?

Yes, if and only if, this aims to stigmatize future mothers or make them responsible for any inconvenience of their colleagues, or to discourage them from a personal life project that concerns no one, not even our President.

It is unacceptable for pregnancy to be used as a means of pressure, for hiring, for salary, for advancement or even to suggest that replacing maternity leave poses a threat to the company.

If your management and HR send such a message, you are absolutely right to react. First of all, contact human resources to report your feelings. Hopefully it’s more of a communication problem than a desire to discriminate. Often, pointing out the shocking nature of the situation allows things to change.

If nothing changes you can contact the CSE, because without corrective actions we could be at the limit of legality.

The Labor Inspectorate will also be able to examine the situation and intervene if necessary.

I sincerely hope that the situation improves on your part and that there is no need to get into an endless debate or, worse, a legal procedure.

Congratulations to the parents-to-be and remind the moms who are enjoying their maternity leave: they deserve it!