Replacing Employees on Maternity Leave

I have an employee who is shortly to return from maternity leave, however the temporary worker who is covering her role during her maternity leave is much better and I would prefer to keep this employee in the role and move my existing employee into another role or potentially make her redundant. How do I handle it?


Sharon McArdle, Tughans Solicitors, Belfast, writes:


In the case of Rees v Apollo Watch Repairs [1996] ICR466 a female employee was found to have been discriminated against when she was dismissed, for redundancy, but where the real reason was that her employer found that the person who covered her maternity leave was more efficient. It was found that, but for the Claimant’s