Loss of Status On Return From Maternity Leave

By CCH

The federal Magistrates Court has found that a female manager was discriminated against even though she suffered no economic loss,

but rather a loss of status, when she returned from maternity leave to an inferior position to her previous one.

After six months maternity leave plus a three month extension, on the condition that she would be permanently reassigned to another equivalent role on her return.

On her return the manager was allotted an inferior position with a lower level of responsibility- two grades lower than her pre-leave position. She was later moved to a project that fulfilled the original promise. The belated provision of a comparable job did not remedy the original breach of the federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

(CCH Work Alert; issue 11, 11 November 2003)