applying for job while pregnant

[Brightside65]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice, perfect job has come up. I work 2.5 days per week and have been looking for additional work in terms of sessional evening/daytime work even 3-9 hours per week.

I've seen perfect job - 0hr contract so hours could be anything from 3-9 per week. My issue is by closing date I'll be 19 weeks pregnant but the time they interview I will be about 25weeks

Do I tell them I'm
Pregnant? I'm tempted not to as I don't think I would get the job!

How fessible would it be to keep working few hours a week while I'm on maternity to keep my hand in?

I really don't want me being pregnant putting me at a disadvantage but how likely are people about hiring a pregnant woman?

[Brightside65]

Also working even a few hours a week - would this affect my SMP?

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

I think you can work 10 "keep in touch" days before you lose smp.

[cheminotte]

Well if you got it you would not be entitled to any maternity leave from them ( job 2). But the law says you can't work at job 1 when on mat leave but you can work elsewhere. I would go for the job.

[sepa]

If you don't tell them your pregnant at interview stage (which it may be obvious anyway at this stage) then if they hire you on a 0hr contract they(I presume) could get around it by giving you 0hrs work which would mean it would probably be best to be upfront about the pregnancy?

[Brightside65]

My initial thoughts are I don't declare I'm pregnant as I may not get the job.

I wouldn't be looking to claim SMP with this job but all I want is to secure employment with it and not be at a disadvantage as I'm pregnant.

If I can work even few hours in this job a week while on maternity from my other this would be ideal but from what I'm reading online if I work at all during maternity my SMP will stop. This is a real disadvantage as I'm applying for second job to secure me in future post maternity.

[Brightside65]

I keep thinking I wouldn't hire a pregnant woman as she will need to be off maternity and I fear other employers would feel the same.

If I got the job and as other poster said they could give me 0 hour work - that would be fine but at least I'd have job to go back to after maternity leave

[Runner05]

I imagine that if you got the job without telling them they may well choose to terminate your contract within the probation period. It will also likely cause bad feelings from the employer as you have obviously misled them on purpose so they're unlikely to want to keep you on.

[Brightside65]

I done some reading tonight and lots been said about not saying at interview as it puts the panel in a situation where they need to consider the fact I'm pregnant when in fact the interview should be based on me being preferred candidate for job.

I wouldn't say at interview and they shouldn't ask.

If I'm successful and offered then I can say by which point if they retracted their offer it would be breach of employment law.

I'll keep reading and take some advice. I'm not adverse to working while on maternity from main job I just don't want to jeopardise my SMP

[HJBeans]

I was in pretty much exactly this situation this past autumn. Will see if I can find my thread on here. Good advice I got was to not tell them at interview - as its not relevant to my ability to do the job - and also not to feel guilty and try to compensate to prove my commitment after I got it. The thought that really helped me was: pregnancy is needed by society and workplaces should be set up to support it - if we're serious about equal opportunity between women and men then burdens of inconvenience should not only be carried by pregnant women.

Anyway after an initial 'ah, this is awkward for forward planning', my work has been great about it (as they need to be by law, but also personally within the team). I did make the mistake of trying to compensate a bit by working through 39 weeks - and was flakier than I'd have liked to be with stamina and focus toward the end. Now plan to do a few vital things as keeping in touch days and to head back after 3 months - wouldn't have felt good about accepting the job then disappearing for a year and am happy to do this. My probation is put on hold while I'm away.

All in all, for a perfect job they should understand you've no control over timing and value having you in the long run. Don't know how zero hours would feed into it, but they are legally obligated not to descriminate against you.

[HJBeans]

Here's the helpful advice I got when asking MN:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/2465955-Interviewing-while-pregnant

[Brightside65]

Hjbeans: thanks great thank you. I'll have a read now x