A Co Down woman has settled a sexual discrimination case against one of Northern Ireland’s largest employers for almost €260,000.
Maeve Bradley worked for Citibank in Belfast as an Assistant Vice President when she went on maternity leave in the spring of 2023.
The mother-of-two believed she was in line for a promotion on her return, but the person who covered her maternity leave was promoted instead.
Her employment with Citibank was terminated as part of the settlement, which was agreed without admission of liability.
She received £215,000, almost €260,000, one of the largest settlements of its kind in Northern Ireland.
An Assistant Vice President of her division in 2023, Ms Bradley had been told a promotion was on the cards when she returned from her maternity leave.
“I was told that my job would be re-levelled for whenever I came back from maternity leave to the higher level, so I was Assistant Vice President and it would change to a Vice President role,” she explained.
Ms Bradley, from Downpatrick, went on maternity leave on 1 April 2023 and expected to return to her new enhanced role a year later.
But when she contacted a manager ahead of her return to let them know she had applied for reduced hours due to childcare needs, she was offered an alternative role and told her job – and the promotion that went with it – had been given to the person who filled in for her.
“I was devastated, really devastated,” she recalls.
“All I did was have a baby. I loved my job, I wanted to return to my job. I thought I would go off and build up my career, have this little baby, go off and come back and do my job as it should be, and that wasn’t what was to happen.
“I never thought this kind of thing could happen to me, I never thought I’d be that person, but it did happen.”
Believing her treatment to be unlawful, Ms Bradley raised a formal grievance with Citibank, but it was not upheld.
She then issued legal proceedings alleging sex discrimination, and later brought two further claims alleging disability discrimination and victimisation.
Her case was listed for a tribunal hearing but was settled by mediation, however she says the process took its toll on family life as well as her health.
“I never got to return to work, you know, I don’t know what it’s like to be a mummy that’s back in the workplace.
“That was something that was taken away completely from me,” she said.
“So, yes, there’s the relief that it’s over, but there’s still a lot of healing that needs to take place.”
Her case, settled without admission of liability, was supported by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
Its Chief Commissioner, Geraldine McGahey, says issues around pregnancy and maternity in the workplace continues to be the most common complaints of sex discrimination – almost 50 years after the introduction of employment laws to protect women.
“This is not a unique case. Many women face real hardship whenever they try to come back to work, they find themselves disadvantaged, they find promotions have been offered to people, there have been recruitment exercises and they’ve been excluded,” she explains.
“People who go off on maternity leave have the right to come back, to be in the same job as they were in before they left, and they’re entitled to know what’s been going on in the organisation, and if there’s an opportunity for further enhancement of their career they have to be afforded that,” Ms McGahey said.
“This kind of discrimination is still a huge problem. Our complaints, our inquiries to our advice line, about 25% of those are in relation to sex discrimination, and then again, about a quarter of those in relation to actual pregnancy and maternity issues.
“So you’re talking about 1,000 inquiries about sex discrimination like this (per year). It’s not it’s not appropriate, it’s not right in today’s society.”
Citibank employs around 1,200 people across two sites in Belfast.
Settling the case, the company said it affirmed its commitment to equality of opportunity and to ensuring that its policies, procedures and practices comply in all respects with its legal obligations.
The company has agreed to liaise with the commission to review its equal opportunities policies, procedures and practices relating to the treatment of employees on maternity leave in Northern Ireland.
Ms McGahey says the onus is on companies to ensure policies are implemented.
“It’s all very well having policies, but if people don’t implement them, if managers don’t behave the way that the law expects them to behave, this kind of situation is going to keep recurring,” she said.
Ms Bradley lost a job she loved and will have to seek reemployment, but says she owed it to her two young daughters to take a stand.
“I have a little step daughter, and I have a little girl … two years of age next week looking at me, and I wouldn’t let anybody treat them this way.
“So I had to teach them the lesson that nobody can treat you this way, so they’re not going to treat mummy this way.”
