To have done a job interview at 20 weeks pregnant and not disclosed

You did nothing wrong.
If you told them you were pregnant you would absolutely not have got the job.

you need to make a formal complaint

That's really going to make sure she never get promoted.

First she screws them over (it may be legal but it ain't nice) then formally complains that they're not being super friendly to her.

I imagine timing was so that pregnant lady could have a handover period with the new hire. With the lag of hiring they're never going to make that work now and they can't go back to the other candidates to make a quick appointment.

I'd be pissed if I was the hiring manager.

Well it sets back some women’s rights but it’s good news for older women. I worked as a contractor for around a decade. When I was up against a woman of child bearing age in the selection process I got the contract 100% of the time. I’m not arrogant enough to believe that my skills were vastly superior (although length and depth of experience might have been). I strongly believe I was seen as more reliable and less likely to have childcare issues. I most definitely wasn’t going to get pregnant.

You are right legally but you have blotted your own copybook even before you started. This is not something your manager will forget. Good luck with your pregnancy and your new role if you intend to come back.

I reckon you will be fine as you have a thick skin.

@dancehysterical22 · Today 05:17

The fact you actively, cheerfully said ‘no’ , rather than just not mentioning it would rub me up the wrong way as an employer and I’d feel I’d be unable to trust you.

This ^ is the thing for me. The OP said in the interview that she had NOTHING else to disclose, even though she is well into a pregnancy. That would really make me see that person differently if I were the employer.

If this is a new contract in the new job, the OP could well find herself being dumped by the company 2 years after starting, because an employer can get rid of anyone they like if they have been there for less than 2 years.

The OP could kick off and say 'they've done this because I went off pregnant within a few weeks of starting the job,' and she can try and take them to a tribunal, but as soon as it emerges that she lied at her interview and didn't disclose that she was pregnant, (and I don't even think 'by omission,' she said there was nothing else to disclose that might affect the role,) I doubt that the tribunal will take her side. And she will have to prove that the employer is getting rid of her because of what she did. They could just say her work isn't quite up to scratch, and it's just not working out.

Look I think it's great that pregnant women have all these new rights, and I want to see women protected, but I think the law stating that a woman doesn't have to disclose that she is pregnant to a prospective employer is just ridiculous. It may be 'legal' but it is ridiculous. I'm entitled to think that. And according to many comments on here, and the poll result, plenty of other posters think so too.

How could you ever trust that person again? As some posters have said, it will make employers think very seriously about employing women of childbearing age. So the more that things like this happen, the worse things are going to get for younger women in the workplace. Can the 'you do what you want OP, you're ENTITLED to, it's the LAW' posters actually not get that?

All this said though (as I said earlier,) I have never known anyone do this in real life. Apply for a job whilst pregnant and not disclose the pregnancy. Only ever read about it on here.

To be honest I think you’ve handled the pregnancy disclosure in an immature way.

Being pregnant doesn’t have to be a career barrier, if you try to give the right signals. For example instead of telling them a month later about the pregnancy in the way you did, (which you admit may have come across badly) you could have also been more proactive. Eg added on that you want to achieve X before maternity leave and Y when you return. Ie work with them to agree a reasonable plan of action especially as it’s a new role.

at the moment they’re probably thinking there’s limited value in investing in your training and onboarding if you’re going to be on a long term absence soon and therefore embedded in post for over a year. Pregnant or not, it’s a valid thing for your manager to worry about - because you might have been hired specifically to backfill team capacity. You said in regards to your previous role, that you going on maternity leave was irrelevant because it doesn’t affect the old team that much, dozens of staff etc. But you can’t judge your new team by your old team’s resourcing and standards especially as you have more responsibilities in the new role and it’s a smaller team. You basically treated the new team, as if they were your old team. Whereas for me I would have taken the approach of trying to build rapport with my new boss and building trust etc. when you work in entry level roles, you’re used to work being backfilled easy - but the more responsibility you have, the more you need to consider handovers for absences, continuity etc.

You’ve never run a business have you? Do you think all businesses spring into being multi nationals, with thousands of employees, overnight? Or do most start small, from the ground up, with a few employees? That isn’t a “rubbish” business model, it’s how businesses grow. And if EVERY business has to factor in the costs of employing someone like op, doing what she did? We’d all be paying an awful lot more, for everything we buy. But don’t let that get in the way of your misplaced ire.

The Op does not work for a small business though.

I’m 25 weeks pregnant.

My original manager knew from 6 weeks in January as HG (severe morning sickness) kicked in at 6 weeks and I ended up on the sick for 2 months. After 2 months I returned as I’d found a medication protocol that allowed
me to get back to normality. I worked in an entry level customer service role. They have dozens of staff so my pregnancy didn’t really affect the team that much.

An internal role came up within the business in March. It would essentially be a promotion. Pay rise, more responsibilities (but generally nicer hours and less front-line customer contact, which is a huge bonus), no weekends, smaller team. I applied expecting nothing to come of it. I surprisingly got invited for an interview in April. I was 20 weeks when I interviewed. I had pondered over whether to disclose the pregnancy at the interview. This internal department is in a different part of the building to where I worked so they don’t know me at all. And my line manager at the time confirmed they wouldn’t tell them about the pregnancy and that it was up to me when I disclose. This job role that had come up was something I’ve desired to get into ever since joining the company, and I really wanted to give it my best shot, so I decided not to disclose, as was my legal right.

I interviewed at 20 weeks in April and felt I hid the bump well. We clicked really well at interview and they really liked me. They asked about pre-booked holidays etc. they then asked “Is there anything else we need to know about?” and I cheerfully said “no”. I felt awful about this at the time but on the other hand, as I said, I wanted them to review me as a candidate fairly without just being seen as “the pregnant candidate”.

Middle of May I got offered the role and accepted. The call where they offered the role was very rushed as they were snowed under, and I didn’t get chance to disclose the pregnancy as she said “Right I’ll be in touch when I’ve got a start date I need to go now, take care!” and abruptly hung up.

The next day (my final day before 17 days of annual leave) I messaged the new manager asking if she had time for a call and she never replied. I wanted to disclose the pregnancy then. I then went on the pre-booked
holiday and still didn’t have a start date.

Came back from my holiday and returned to work 26th May after the bank holiday and went to sit in my usual part of the office and got pulled away by my new manager, taken to their department and told I’m starting straight away. By this point I’m 25 weeks so I had to tell them. It was all quite rushed and they’ve been off with me ever since. Nobody has said anything but they aren’t friendly with me like they have been prior and at one point I was asked why I hadn’t disclosed at interview. They exclude me from friendly chat and I have to ask them what they want me to be doing with my time and my training.

I do feel awful for inconveniencing them but I don’t think I did anything wrong by not disclosing at interview. I had intended to tell them earlier than when I did but I just never got the right moment. I thought we’d have a time to sit down together and go through contracts etc and I would’ve mentioned it then but this never happened.

I have seen there is another woman on the team who is pregnant and due to go on leave so I suspect they had intended me to take over from her and that is why they are pissed off. They hadn’t told me this at interview though. Ironically I’m actually due before this other woman so I can see why they are fuming but legally I’ve not done anything wrong. It does prove that if I’d have disclosed at interview they probably would’ve not hired me and would’ve made up a non-pregnancy related reason to justify it.

Am I am awful employee? I’m concerned that my relationship with my managers will never recover from this and it’s a shame as I really have a huge interest in this role and have every intention of going back full-time after mat leave.

Well it would come out of the budget that is dealt with by the Customer Service operations manager (who is based in a completely different city) and not my line manager for starters. He is just genuinely nice, he wasn’t trying to get rid of me because of being pregnant. He knew I was a good candidate for the internal role and wanted me to have equal opportunity to the other candidates in our team that were going for it. There’s some absolutely horrendous attitudes on this thread.

I don’t even know if there is a probation period as it’s all been so rushed. They mentioned salary and hours during interview but beyond that I’ve just been thrown into the job and we’ve not gone over any other terms such as probation, how long training is etc

No you did nothing wrong. Women should not be penalised and miss out on opportunities because they are pregnant. This is exactly why the law reflects that.