Maternity rights

Case 8: The facts

Diane Paul worked for a financial services company for many years. While on maternity leave a post became vacant which Paul would have been interested in, but she was not told about it. When she found out she was upset and raised a grievance because she had not been given the opportunity to apply for the job. The grievance was not resolved in her favour and she resigned. Paul then lost some maternity pay as a result of a clause in her contract saying that women who did not return to work at the end of their maternity leave forfeited their right to contractual maternity pay. Paul took an unfair dismissal and sex discrimination claim to a tribunal that ruled in her favour. Her employers appealed to the EAT.

The ruling

The EAT upheld the tribunal ruling. It said that the failure to notify an employee on maternity leave of a vacancy for which she would have applied amounts to a breach of the mutual term of trust and confidence. This meant that Paul could resign but still pursue a claim based on constructive dismissal.

* Visa International Service Association v Paul EAT/97/02