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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to apply for a permanent job when I'm preggers?

68 replies

noeyedear · 14/07/2010 12:44

I've just found out I'm pregnant, which I would be overjoyed about, if it wasn't for the fact I've just been made redundant and my DH's job is also at risk. I have been applying for jobs, as I need to at least work until the baby is due. I know I wouldn't get maternity benefits etc, but is it just cr*p to turn up and then say 'actually, I'm pregnant and I need to bugger off for 6 months or more?" We could live on DH's salary and tax credits, but if DH loses his job we would be royally screwed. We have never been unemployed so we have a fairly large mortgage and bills. I have no idea how we would pay them if both of us were out of work.

OP posts:

Original poster

noeyedear · 15/07/2010 12:46

I was worried about supply because of what people were saying about there being no supply work from Septeber. I already have a DS and his childcare would need to be sorted out too. If I'm not working, I'd be paying out for childcae and not earning, but I suppose if DH loses his job, he can do the childcare for a bit. I was worrying about my career if i don't tell them, but TBH my career suffered as a result of having DS1 anyway and I don't want the same level of responsibility I had before with 2 DC's to look after. There are so many different eventualities and I'm not good when I don't know whats going to happen in the future! Lots of people have said on here that they disclosed their pregnancy at interview and still got the job, so thats something. I probably would regret it if I didn't go for it. The application has to be in today so I think I'll send it off and see what happens. Thanks for the advice. It's really given me something to think about!

OP posts:

tethersend · 15/07/2010 12:48

Good luck- hope you get it

Original poster

noeyedear · 15/07/2010 12:50

Rubbersoul, exactly what happened at my previous school! Some people were observed much more harshly than others-normally the ones that complained a lot-I was trained in observations and some of the things on their forms were a bit . If they don't trust you, there are plenty of ways of getting round the law.

OP posts:

rubbersoul · 15/07/2010 12:51

Go for it and good luck!

Original poster

noeyedear · 15/07/2010 12:51

I'll let you know!

OP posts:

maxpower · 15/07/2010 12:53

OP, in answer to your question, YANBU to apply for any job while preggers.

rubbersoul · 15/07/2010 12:57

that's the frustrating thing- the fact that they CAN get away with it. The HOD I mentioned employed a man and a young girl out of uni- didn't have a partner and therefore deemed as 'low risk' There were two other women interviewed who senior management liked but HOD went out of her way to not employ them as both were married and one had a child... and these were her words

DandyDan · 15/07/2010 16:17

Don't think it is fair on the children in the school. Financially the school might be able to work around these things, as of course they should, but the class gets dropped into short-term contract teachers - "our proper teacher is meant to be Ms .... but we've had Ms. .... most of this year."

Of course the school should not discriminate but I don't think it's fair either.

tethersend · 15/07/2010 16:48

With that logic DandyDan, teachers should be banned from reproducing at all. Is that what you're advocating?

DandyDan · 15/07/2010 23:03

Nope. Of course not.

I just don't think it's fair to apply for any job when you know you are going to have to leave it for an extended period a couple of months later. That's not the same thing as being in a job and being pregnant.

tethersend · 16/07/2010 09:26

"the class gets dropped into short-term contract teachers - "our proper teacher is meant to be Ms .... but we've had Ms. .... most of this year." "

This happens for maternity leave no matter how long you have been at the school. Surely you can see why I'm questioning you on it?

justonemorethen · 16/07/2010 09:57

Honesty is the best policy especially if you are taking a job just for the money.

I got turned down for a couple of jobs because I told them I was pregnant which I understood completely. I ended up inundated with casual nanny jobs,worked right up till I was in labour and then went back to work two weeks after having DS. This then led to finding a job in a school which I got mainly because they could see that I was a grafter and was happy to work whatever happened.

I think stuff works out in the end whatever you decide.

Congrats also!Hope it all goes well

callalilies · 16/07/2010 10:05

Thing is if you tell the employer during the interview, or before an offer of some kind, it puts them in a difficult situation. It will be more or less impossible for that information not to colour their decision in some way, even though it's not allowed to.

If you tell them, I think two things could happen. Either they might allow it to put them off, therefore discriminating against you. Or they might be panicky about discrimination claims and be more inclined to feel they have to offer you the job to avoid being sued. So if it's a toss-up between two candidates and they might otherwise have gone with the other one, they can't win because they risk a discrimination claim if they don't offer the woman the job, and if they do offer her the job they avoid claims of discrimination but instead end up with not their ideal candidate and having her disappear off for up to a year soon after joining.

I would rather an employer made a decision about me personally, rather than it being coloured by pregnancy. By informing them straight after an offer, you are giving them as much notice as you can, while confident that they have chosen you for all the right reasons.

DandyDan · 16/07/2010 12:45

Yes, it happens with maternity leave, but children at a school already know the teachers who work there - the teacher that they already know, going on maternity leave, is different from a brand-new teacher arriving and then leaving on maternity leave very soon afterwards This possible situation would be getting to know a new teacher for a couple of months and getting settled with them, as a completely new member of staff, and then having to do it all over again with the cover staff.

tethersend · 16/07/2010 13:38

Children change teacher every year.

Every September they are confronted with a teacher they don't know (seeing them in assembly doesn't count as knowing them)- inexplicably, they manage. Thrive, even.

Unless you are saying that all teachers must conceive in order to go on ML towards the end of the school year?

I think you are overreacting.

Asana · 16/07/2010 14:19

callalilies has put it beuatifully. You are damned if you do tell them (they feel pressured to offer you the job to avert a discrimination claim), and damned if you don't (they feel deceived when they find out, despite picking you as the best person for the job in the first place). As the only other alternative is for women to not apply for any jobs at all if they are pregnant, looking to get pregnant or could fall pregnant unintentionally (which could apply to the vast majority of women women), I would advocate not telling them.

Jane054848 · 16/07/2010 14:54

Capricorn76/ Alan: apologies for the delay in responding. Didn't check the thread again yesterday.

But what you are talking about - ie. penalising someone for the rest of their career because they "deceived" you by not telling you something which the law SPECIFICALLY STATES they are under no obligation to tell you - is ALSO discrimination.

The fact that women are not obliged to disclose pregnancy at interview was recognised by the people who drafted the legislation back in 1975 - so it's a bit depressing that we are still debating the morality of it 35 years later.

mummytime · 16/07/2010 15:14

In secondary school, the subject teachers can change more often than once a year. And then there are trainees. Schools should be able to plan so that records etc. pass across and the students don't miss out. If the right systems are in place it shouldn't matter, and if they aren't then what about when someone breaks their leg or has a heart attack or....?

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