I am looking for some advice with regards to being ignored for promotion at work. My company has an Equal Opportunty policy which states that "Opportunities for promotion will be made known to suitably qualified employees and will be available on a fair and equal basis". The company did not adhere to this policy and to make matters worse I received an email Company Annoucement informing me of a change of department structure and newly promoted staff (my manager had previously told all other member of the department on a day I was not in and he made no attempt to speak to me prior to reading this company wide email!). I tried to ask my Director today why I was not given the opportunity to apply for either of the 2 roles representing a promotion and was told that as I had only returned from maternity leave 3 months ago and was put into a new role that I had not proved myself and was therefore discounted. The role I came back to was the same as my previous role but preparing accounts for a different entity. I was in this role for more than 2 years prior to maternity leave so I don't think this is a valid reason and I should stil have been given the opportunity to apply. He then refused to discuss any further and referred me to the HR Director. I feel now that I have no choice but to raise a formal grievance for my treatment, is this correct? What can I expect as an outcome from this? I believe the real reason I was not even made aware of the promotions let alone considered is due to the fact that I work part time (my manager has made comments to other colleagues suggesting this) but nothing has been said to me. I don't really want to start throwing around accusations of discrimination as I'm still stuck there working at the moment. I just really don't know what to do! Any advice would be greatly received.