QLD Employer/Employee responsibilities after maternity leave - original position no longer exists

[Scylon]

Good day,

The situation is thus: My wife was a manager at a retail clothing store. She has been away on maternity leave for awhile now, having taken all her annual and long service leave. During the leave she was informed that the store she was a manager off was being closed down, and they were looking to make her redundant. She was given an initial payout figure. However before this could progress to an offer she was subsequently e-mailed informing her they were rescinding that offer and would "look to see what was happing closer to the end date of her leave". As things stand now the original store where she used to work has indeed closed down and no longer exists.

She has since found new employment while on unpaid leave in a different profession to make ends meet as you can't return to work until the original agreed upon dates. She hasn't talked to the original employer regarding her new place of work, as she isn't even sure if she has a job to return to. The time her maternity leave is due to end is soon. She has E-mailed them requesting an update on the situation, however they haven't replied. She sent this request to her area manage and the HR department. Neither responded.

She is unsure what her rights are at this time. She isn't concerned about her job, as she could continue at her current place of work. However the fact they closed down the original store, offered then retracted a redundancy and they haven't done their due diligence in connecting her has left her in limbo. What is the next step she should take, as there is the matter of possible entitlements she is owed if there is indeed no position for her to return too, and she is/was employed there for 11 years.

Kind regards,

Pat.

 

[Rod]

Tell them to make her redundant. Start putting everything into correspondence so there is a record of what was said and when.

Your wife needs to be careful as she may be seen as have resigned by taking on other work.

 

[Scylon]

Just an update on this:

So after the time to return to work came and went, the employer procrastinated for weeks. Eventually after they couldn't find a position for the employee, a redundancy was made. All ended well.

The end

 

[Martis]

Ahhh post-mat leave return + role no longer exists — classic employment spaghetti + parental leave vibes 😅 Suddenly it’s not just “welcome back,” but return-to-work rights, suitable alternative roles, and compliance bits all doing the cha-cha 👀

Most headaches come from upstream fuzziness: vague parental leave policies, informal “we’ll find something” vibes, or unclear role mapping. Once HR or Fair Work gets involved, it’s a tangle of obligations, evidence, and timelines 😬

Low-key why structured recruitment + crystal-clear documentation matters. Platforms like AcademicJobs.com are clutch — formalised position descriptions, transparent parental leave frameworks, and compliance-aligned pipelines help make return-to-work expectations clear from day dot, especially in academia/research roles where funding cycles, restructures, and acting roles can get… messy 😅

Anyway, loving this convo — post-maternity return nuance deserves way more airtime than it usually gets 😂