Just one month out from giving birth to her first child, Nudzejma Avdic was given a promotion and pay rise.
But the 37-year-old said she didn't share her news, because at the time, in early 2020, she knew of other women who were in a totally different position to her.
“To be offered the next stepping stone in my career was amazing because I could take that time off, I could go on maternity leave, be with my daughter and be safe in the knowledge that I had a great job to come back to, and that I was valued by my company, " Nudzejma, equipment rental and studios manager at a Sydney photography and film studio said.
"In fact, I didn't just return to a great job, I came back to an even better position than when I had left. And to me, that makes me feel like I'm one of the lucky ones."
Nudzejma said she personally doesn’t know any other women who were promoted while on maternity leave but she does know plenty of women who have stories of being made to feel insecure and devalued after losing their jobs while taking time off from full-time work to have children.
One friend, who works in a different industry to her, was pregnant at the same time as Nudzejma and was made redundant while on maternity leave.
Nudzejma works as equipment rental and studios manager at SUNSTUDIOS in Alexandria, Sydney. Source: SBS News / Dijana Damjanovic
“They ended up settling, they gave her a little bit more of a payout, " Nudzejma said.
"She didn't do it for the money. She did it because she felt it was wrong of them to put her in that position.
"And she really wanted to be here today to talk about that.
"But she'd signed a nondisclosure agreement. And her lawyer advised her against talking about it even anonymously."
Nudzejma said she feels a sense of belonging to her employer, Sydney business SUNSTUDIOS, because it offers her flexibility. She has been with the company for seven years.
“You are made to feel as though your life outside of work matters, " Nudzejma said.
"It's definitely very motivating to come back to work and give it your all. And to continue investing into that business.
"It makes it very easy. And it's something that I've heard from many staff here."
SUNSTUDIOS said in a statement Nudzejma was promoted because she “consistently demonstrated the right skill set for the role” and for her experience in the industry. It also described her as an “incredibly talented leader in our team”.
Nudzejma was born in Yugoslavia, in what is presently known as Bosnia and Herzegovina, and said she remembers the progressive approach to working mothers there.
Nudzejma while pregnant with her daughter Laura. Source: SBS News / Supplied
"For instance, when she went on maternity leave, she received a full year of full pay.
"And she could take me to work if she needed to in emergency situations. And she could take as much time off as she needed to look after me if something came up.
Michele O’Neil, from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said Australia’s paid parental leave scheme has a lot of catching up to do.
“Parental leave was something that workers and unions fought for in Australia, over many decades, " she said.
"And actually, we have still one of the least-generous paid parental leave schemes in the developed world."
Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, said Australian women experience high levels of workplace discrimination based on sex, pregnancy and family responsibilities.
“This discrimination impacts all areas of women’s working life, and across their lifetime, including lower rates of full-time work, lower pay, lower superannuation savings, fewer leadership opportunities, high rates of discrimination against mothers and high rates of sexual harassment,” Ms Jenkins said.
Keren Wallace, 39, was made redundant while on maternity leave in August 2020. At the time she worked in corporate governance at NBN Co in Sydney.
Keren Wallace said she didn't expect to be made redundant while on maternity leave. Source: SBS News / Dijana Damjanovic
"I understand that there was an organisational restructuring going on. But being at home, you're disconnected from the workplace - you're already in really unfamiliar territory, trying to learn how to be a mum for the first time.
"And then to be cast out with what felt like, no support from the organisation I'd given eight years of my life to, was really hard."
Keren said the redundancy process at NBN Co exacerbated her post-natal depression and led her to question her self-worth.
An NBN Co spokesperson said after completing the initial build of the NBN network in 2020, the company started transforming its operating model as it shifted into a more mature phase of operations.
NBN Co issued a statement to SBS, referring to its policies and procedures, and stating that redundancy cases are managed on a case-by-case basis with flexibility where possible.
The spokesperson added that employees whose role is affected due to operating model changes are offered the opportunity of redeployment to other roles that are “suitable and open,” including employees who are on maternity leave.
Keren didn’t lodge a complaint to NBN Co or a government organisation.
She alleges that finding out that the person who was backfilling her position while she was on maternity leave kept a “tweaked” version of her job under a new title was particularly difficult.
Keren, her husband Dan and her daughter Madeline. Source: SBS News / Supplied
But getting a more detailed snapshot of the experience of women in this space is difficult, with the report also finding 91 per cent of mothers who experience discrimination do not make a formal complaint, either within their organisation or to a government agency.
Helen Dalley-Fisher, from women's equality advocacy network Equality Rights Alliance, said the pressures on new mothers adds to the data issue.
“The system that we have at the moment relies on women being able to make a complaint about the fact that they've lost their job, either in employment law or discrimination law, and if you've just lost your job and you've got a small baby, you frankly don't have the energy to be able to deal with that, " she said.
"So we suspect that this is happening a lot more often than is reported, but we're not seeing the data come through."
Helen Dalley-Fisher from the Equality Rights Alliance said employers would see women as less of a liability if more men took paid parental leave. Credit: Supplied
“The big problem we have with situations where somebody is made redundant or experiences some other detriment when they come back from looking after a child or a baby, is that it's really hard to tell whether or not the person is experiencing discrimination or not - you can have quite genuine redundancies occurring where the person genuinely no longer has a job, " she said.
"But there's always a risk sitting there, that unconscious bias is affecting the decision about who is losing the job.”
Ms Dalley-Fisher said if someone is on leave at the time of the redundancy process it can contribute to biased decision making by management.
“The person who is off caring for a child isn't in the workplace proving themselves, " she said.
"And then you have managers making decisions about which person within a particular class of employees should be made redundant, who might be starting to experience the effects of unconscious bias, where they are thinking to themselves that the work done by a woman is not actually as good as the work done by a man.
"It's an unconscious process.”
One of the ways to deal with the problem of unconscious bias, she said, was to address the idea that childcare if something that only women do.
“We need more men to be taking pay parental leave, " she said.
"At the moment, only 12 per cent of everybody taking paid parental leave is a bloke, we need that to change because otherwise employers are always going to see women as a bit of a liability, because they have children to care for.
"It takes two to tango, frankly, dad should be pulling their weight.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission defines pregnancy discrimination as “when a woman is treated less favourably than another person because she is pregnant or because she may become pregnant”.
Under the Sex Discrimination Act, a woman who returns to work after maternity leave has the right to return to the same job she had before going on leave. If the job doesn’t exist anymore, she has the right to another job which is as close as possible in pay and responsibilities to the one she had before.
The Australian Government provides Parental Leave Pay for working parents at the national minimum wage ($772.60) for a maximum period of 18 weeks.
If you think you’ve been unfairly dismissed, you can contact Fair Work Australia on 13 13 94.
