Yes, an employer must contact an employee on maternity leave about any promotion or other job opportunities. When employers are considering advertising a promotion internally or any job vacancies, providing an equal opportunity to apply and compete for the role should be a key concern. Employers must ensure that women on maternity leave are informed of any jobs that become available and must enable them to apply if they wish to do so. Failure to do so may be unfavourable treatment, and thus could amount to discrimination because of pregnancy and maternity. 

Prior to any maternity leave, an employer should have a meeting with the employee to discuss how the employee would like to stay in touch. Whilst an employer must tell the employee about promotions, job opportunities, training, redundancies, and any reorganisation this can also be an opportunity to agree with the employee what else they would like to hear about, such as staff bulletins, how to communicate such as email, phone, or keeping in touch days.

This article was provided by Madison Bowyer, an Associate in the Employment Law Group at Arthur Cox NI.

T:+44 28 9026 5886 
E: Madison.bowyer@arthurcox.com 
www.arthurcox.com