So I have working for the same organisation for 5 years now, always in the same department. I am currently pregnant and am off sick due to pregnancy related issues, my current department are obviously aware because of this. I have been offered an interview for an internal vacancy that I applied for before I found out about the baby. It's a job I've been desperate to do since I started there but opportunities haven't really come up or when they have, I've unfortunately just missed out. The new job, for now at least, is a 12 month Fixed Term Contract. I don't know when it's expected to start, but January is my guess (there's security and financial checks etc). It is highly likely that the contract will be extended or that I could apply for a permanent role doing the same job on a different project at some point however obviously this cannot be guaranteed. So I'm now panicking a bit about what to do. I will be going off on Maternity Leave at the end of May and would be due to come back in March. My first worry is when to tell them that I'm pregnant, I don't want to discount myself straight away by telling them at interview but also don't want to wait until I start and will most likely be showing by then anyway. I know legally I don't have to tell them however it just feels, I don't know, cheeky? If I tell them once I have an offer in writing is that bad? Plus my current department already know. I wouldn't worry about this if the job was perm from the outset. My second worry is, if the contract is not extended or made perm. I know you have more rights whilst pregnant or on maternity leave and have read they have to give a justifiable business reason to end the contract as it's seen as redundancy if they don't renew, that you get priority over someone not pregnant or on mat leave if they only extend say 4 people's contracts out of 6. I've also read that they must find you an alternative position elsewhere within the business (which would be highly likely, there's ALWAYS jobs in my old dept - not that I particularly want to go back if I can help it). I just don't want the stress whilst on maternity leave, but at the same time I cannot pass up the opportunity to do the job I have wanted to do for so long and there's no guarantee it will come up again any time soon. So any advice on what I should do/what you would do etc and what my rights are beyond what I have already read about. Thanks.
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