no pay rise - hands up who thinks it's cuz im pregnant!

[kelli22]

at interview's (2x) i was told i would get £XXX then when i got offered it was a lower ammount on an "initial" basis so i took it as i thought i would enjoy the job, liked the people etc 3months on i asked for my increase as was mentioned in interview, 3 weeks later i was declined due to lack of experience i was told to continue to work hard and get our IT guy to do some things for me and they would look at it again in 3 months. So thjis is where im at now, i've hounded the IT guy and he's done about half of what i asked.
About 4 mths inot the job i found out im pregnant, wanted to be honest about why i felt so rough so i told them. I continued to work hard and do my job well. i get alot of thanks.

I've worked hard, i like my job but im starting to feel theyre taking me for a ride. at my 6mth review i asked again about my increase and after about a week i was told no again. partly to do with this IT guy not havin time and doin what i asked. they said continue to work hard and get it sorted and we will think again.......
i feel theyre dangling the carrot - how far do i chase it, if im right in thinking it's down to my pregnancy then surely im wasting my energy giving my all to a company that don't deserve me.
im the only one that does my job and i have to give 2 weeks notice if i want holiday, i have a "pivital role"

sorry to go on n on, but please what do you think?

[Caligula]

Do you have any of these promises in writing?

[sparklymieow]

I think they would be doing this anyway. Sounds like they really don't want to pay out the extra money.

[Twiglett]

Yes I think they're taking you for a ride to be honest, but I think its probably what they would have done anyway.

BUT there's nothing you can do it about it unfortunately. As you are pregnant and will be leaving in a few months for a maternity break (that can be up to a year), I'd just swallow it down, have your baby and then whilst on maternity leave look around to see if you could 'return' to a different job

Just don't do anything over what you need to do, and don't worry about taking time off for maternity appointments

[kelli22]

Thanks for your replies, i went today and aparrently the IT bloke has done everything that was needed now so they are going to monitor me for 6 weeks to see if i am worth it (bit of a cheek) but anyway i thought what the hell i'll give it my best and if i don't get it i'll kno i did everything, also at least it will have given me something to focus on other than the pregnancy (im very impatient and 9 months is a long time in my world )

On the point about my antenatal appt - i have one next week and they asked me to come in before and after - they know that i spend an hr a day driving and that this means i would have to spend 2 hours that day driving for the sake of goin in, in the morning for an hour so i'll try and get the afternoon off and just go in the morning if i can.

I don't want to feel like i'm just there, i like to feel im doing a good job because it gives me satisfaction, without that the next few months are going to drag and i really don't fancy that, and you never know they might give it to me - then again pigs may fly :P
I'm not planning on going back anyway, partly because of how i've been treated and partly because i want to become a childminder (i have kept this quiet) but i'm starting my ICP in a couple of weeks and i hope to be registered by november, fingers crossed.

Any more advice would be appreciated tho so if you want to add your two pennys worth feel free I'll come back and let you know if i do actually see some flying pigs

[teabelly]

Kelli, hope you get to see your flying pigs . I'm in a similar sort of situ...was contracting for a company, who then made me a perm last april, but I received no pay rise that year as they said the addl. costs of making me perm were quite high, blah blah. I took it coz we wanted to try for another baby and I wanted the smp/job back situ being perm provides. Little one is now due in june, and we're back around to pay rise time of year. I don't go on mat leave til early may; pay rise's should be effective 1st April, or back dated as they're very slow normally to get their arses into gear . Usually there is also a 'bonus' - not massive but every little helps (this bonus is not contractual). However in my appraisal a week or so ago I was told I probably wouldn't get a payrise this year, and no mention of the bonus at all. I'm under the impression that if you're on mat leave and everyone gets a payrise whilst you're away your obliged to be given the same on your return to work...but in my case I'm still here when the rises become effective and don't 'leave' for another 5/6 weeks. I'm not sure whether to broach the subject now, and if so how, or wait and see if I get a rise on my return in January...the job is abit tenuous tho as we're project driven and my current project is finishing as I go on leave, so I'm not sure about rocking any boats before I come back as they're quite free and easy with redundancies if the mood takes them ...have also just discovered that bonus' were paid out on friday...but as yet nothing has hit my back account ...will have to mull it over today - any advice??? I just don't want to be taken advantage of, and as you know smp doesn't go very far so any increase/extra very important to us at the mo. Help much appreciated...

[triceratops]

In my experience employers don't generally pay out unless they have to and if you are pregnant they figure that
A) you are going to leave anyway and
B) they have you over a barrel as you probably won't be able to change jobs while looking pregnant and
C) they are going to have to pay your maternity pay so they feel they are giving you a hand out anyway.

They do have to give you a bonus if it is not performance related, and they should have told you if you were not being given it due to poor performance.

[teabelly]

Thanks Triceratops. I agree re the bonus', but in my appraisal they commented time and again about how well I was doing, and what a great job I do blah, blah...but yet they don't show this as they have with (I've now found out) absolutely everyone else, regardless of performance...it's not the amount thing it's the fact that I'm 100% certain if I wasn't pg I'd have got a bonus too. However as you point out they think they can get away with it, so they try, and they probably will, as I need my job to return to because we couldn't make do on dh's salary, grrrrrr. It just galls me to think that I'm an intelligent (well I like to think so anyway ) professional person and yet I am unable to speak up for fear of being made redundant either whilst on leave or as I return to work. The amount concerned (about £600 net) is not worth loosing my job over but as I'm about to go on leave, we've just had a horrendous plumbing bill that this would just about cover, and it's really just the principle that I would have got it were it not for bump Sorry needed to get that off my chest...not having a go at you, please don't think I am...

[triceratops]

I was demoted from manager to "team leader" while I was on maternity leave. They even wouldn't consider my going part time for a few months so I agreed to contract with them and be self employed. I positively enjoyed leaving them without any notice to go to a new job I do wish that they would realize that loyalty only works if it is mutual.

[teabelly]

Hi ya KVG - poor you to be in the same boat as us!! So have you had lots of inferred conversations but nothing written down too??

Thanx for the link - have printed some really useful info for later ammo

I will wait until the little twerp has had his meeting to decide on the 'resources' going forward situ (probably next week now as todays the end of my week), and then I will see the big boss depending on the outcome - I half suspect that he has no idea about any of this, but unfortunately if I don't deal in the first instance with twerp I make a rod for my own back if I have a job to come back to.

Triceratops quite agree, and not just for maternity rights either, but a little bit of positive people management and understanding gives loyalty and hard workers...unfortunately there are one or two great companies/bosses, and a whole host of shit ones