Frieda spoke with George Pappas a former colleague. While supportive he relayed a story of his own. When external shocks recently impacted on local insurance firms the managers he worked with started to look at ways to cut costs. Different strategies emerged as each group was given the flexibility to design their own cut backs.

Al Webb managed IT Library Services. John Ying was the technical specialist and Sarah Gray, Martha Kant, Jenny Tee and Aggie Callis worked in roles facilitating the provision of service. Al told his staff 2 of the 4 service provision jobs would be made redundant unless all 4 women were flexible and reduced their hours to 3 days per week for the next 6 months. The women agreed to work 3 days rather than have 2 peers made redundant. Then at the end of the 6 months Al’s manager Greg Pellae announced that 2 of the 3-day-per-week jobs would be made redundant and that the redundancy payments were based on 3-day-per-week salaries. Plus the remaining 2 service provision jobs would continue permanently as 3-day per-week jobs.

As Frieda gasped, George explained he was alerted to the situation as Diversity Manager, only to be told by Greg “butt out mate, it’s got nothing to do with EO.”

“That’s interesting George, today I had a debate over how continuous service should be defined in the case of women who’d taken two maternity leave breaks, and I was told that the reason she’d been short changed had nothing to do with EO either.”

Frieda then told George about May Steggley, an accountant with NSEW for 14 years. May had worked 4 years and then taken 12 months unpaid maternity leave. She returned and after working another 6 years, took 12 months maternity leave for the second time. May had been back at work for about 2 years when she was told she was to be made redundant. Frieda asked the Head of Accounting about May’s redundancy payment calculation which was below what was expected. He answered “May’s 14 years service isn’t continuous due to the flexible employment practices she accessed. The only point in time where she’ll receive extra, due to the continuous service payment offered beyond 5 years, is for the 6 year block between her 2 periods of maternity leave.” Frieda had argued the point refusing to concede “ there is nothing flexible about accessing unpaid maternity leave that you are legally entitled to.”

The Head of Accounting hung up and appeared in person in a matter of minutes, nodding at her as he walked into Arthur’s office. After a while Arthur called Frieda in. Arthur agreed with Frieda, but clearly feeling a need to appease the Head of Accounting said almost in jest “women in the workplace tend to complicate things”.

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