Being shut out at work

[Sunflower1985]

Needing a bit of a vent here, so apologies.
I'm due to go on maternity leave mid july. I was away last week and during a meeting my boss told all the staff at the facility that I'm pregnant and so won't be participating in the upcoming project. Well this was news to me!

There are certainly some parts I won't be able to do, for health and safety reasons, but he made the decision to shut me out from the whole thing, and never bothered discussing it with me before telling everyone else.

He said today when I confronted him, after having heard about this meeting from a third party - at 7 months you won't feel up to doing the project, so I don't want you involved.

Firstly - how the h*ll do you know how I'll feel if even I don't, secondly - if I'm sticking within the rules it's my business to decide what I do and don't feel up to.

So now I've been cut out from the final project before my maternity leave, my colleagues who didn't know about my pregnancy are upset that I hadn't told them first, and I feel like I'm being punished.

I've not asked for any special treatment. As the only woman in the team it's difficult enough. And now this.

He even had the audacity to say - it wouldn't be such a problem if my pregnancy had happened 5 years down the line (I've only been at the company for a year).

Arghhh.

Any similar experiences?

[LadyMedea]

That is out and out discrimination. With the exception of accommodating health and safety your employer cannot use pregnancy as a reason for excluding you from normal duties.

You need to go to HR immediately....

Or more fun email him your problem again and invite him to put his reasons in writing... Watch him back track!

[babyradio]

Definitely discrimination, he should be ashamed of himself. Ask him for it in writing but make a note of it with the time of the meeting etc because he will try to backtrack. Keep a record of conversations from now and try to use email because then you get a complete and full record of what you say and what he says.

You also say you're the only woman in the team. I know you may not want to rock the boat but what he is doing is not on and you are protected by law.

Facing a work related problem myself at the moment and so sorry it's happening to you too! More people are neanderthals than we think.

[SourSweets]

Totally agree, it's discrimination and is illegal, go to HR. I did that exact thing with my work on Tuesday so if you need any detailed advice I am happy to chat to you. In my case, I was turned down for extra hours that I formally applied for, due to my pregnancy, and my existing hours were cut as she thought "you might not be able to cope". She has all been telling other staff members that I'm losing weight and not eating enough etc etc. sounds like a similar situation. I went to HR with pages of info including dates and times that things had happened and now they have opened an investigation into it. Sorry to hear you are experiencing this too, it's totally unacceptable in this supposedly enlightened era.