At the risk of being a little controversial, I'll be the first to reply and wait for incoming fire. I'm not a pilot but can add my two penneth from an employer’s perspective. Isn’t this all getting a little silly? Yes of course the lady is entitled to spend time with her child, but presumably she has already been on the receiving end of maternity leave. I'm afraid in todays PC & equal opportunities world things are going a little too FAR.
Put simply you can't have your cake and eat it, it's unreasonable to expect any employer to make 'blanket' concessions to all employees with young Kids or sick relatives (I have both myself), each case must be reviewed - within a framework - on an individual basis. Reading between the lines BA seem to be saying that not only has she only been around for 4 years (I'm guessing a chunk of which has already been whilst on maternity leave) but she has below the expected level of flight experience - probably due to the afore mentioned leave to qualify for rostered time of less than 75% f/t hours, so what’s wrong with that?
Presumably pilots will have a different view - as if the lady concerned is flying part time, by definition there will be greater hours available to others on the roster. It’s really about time people started to wise up a bit and stop expecting Companies and their shareholders to fund their ‘life’ choices regardless of what they may be!