I began mat leave mid-August 2022 and took a year, so I'm starting back this August. I work for a company of about 40-50 people. I was told by the HR rep that my job — which I really enjoy under a manager I love — would be waiting for me when I got back.
I received an email from the COO, who's now also doing HR duties, about a month ago informing me that upon my return I'll be on the marketing team (which I've done before with this company and hated) under a new manager I've never met. I'm pretty close with the manager I had before, so I called her. She said everything has been shifted around, that the HR manager has been let go, and the contract worker who replaced me during my leave will continue to do my job when I go back, but still on a contract basis, whereas I'm permanent/full time.
The company is based in Ontario. I'm not sure it's worth it to raise a stink, because they let people go for pretty slight infractions (or for no apparent reason at all).
The email from the COO was very cold and formal, and made it clear that I have no say. I was told to just wait to be contacted by my new manager. He hasn't reached out yet and I don't even know his email.
Should I just suck it up and be grateful I have a job to go back to? Or demand my old job? I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me and I'm dreading the start date.