When I first went on maternity leave in 2017, I never expected to face any discrimination when coming back to work. Working as a consultant, I had already lined up (before starting my leave) a project that I would join once back at work.

A few weeks before the end of my leave, I got in touch with who was going to be my manager (female) on that project. She informed me that my place had (obviously) been filled in while I was away and that I couldn’t expect people to ‘wait around’ for me.

When I got in touch with HR to ask where I should go on my first day back, they politely suggested that I sat at the cafeteria while I worked out where my place in the company was going to be in the future. They also confirmed that I could forget about my bonus for that year. Happy to say that I was in a position to be able to resign on my second day back. My only regret is not taking the company to court. I hope that through sharing my experience, my beautiful daughter won’t have to experience this level of discrimination should she wish to have children.