Return to work guarantee: do you know your obligations?

Roy Morgan Research Ltd has recently learnt the hard way that, when it comes to the Fair Work Act, it pays to ensure strict compliance over expediency.

Under the "return to work guarantee", an employee returning from maternity leave is entitled to return to their pre-maternity leave position or, if that position no longer exists, the nearest available position in terms of status and pay for which they are qualified.

Roy Morgan was on the receiving end of a general protections application, filed by a returning mother who was sacked on account of redundancy. The Court accepted that Roy Morgan was undergoing a genuine restructure which meant that the returning mother's position ceased to exist. Tick.