How long were you at your job before you became pregnant

[mbunno]

I always wonder: the law says jobs can't discriminate, but if a woman became pregnant during her probation period I'm willing to bet a lot of companies would find an excuse to let her go. Wouldn't they?

I worked with someone who announced her pregnancy to the company just after they'd made her permanent. Everyone was whispering about it behind her back, saying she'd been sneaky etc which I thought was really unfair. But because of this, I personally would feel bad if I became pregnant and requested maternity leave unless I'd worked somewhere two years or so.

I found out I was pregnant the day before I started my new job, a week in I felt so sick and had done all week I had to tell my boss, I worked until 29 weeks went on maternity but I'm not going back, if I had gone back I would have had more time off than I actually worked there! I also had time off during the pregnancy and I was a great worker, and didn't get sacked xx

I found out I was pregnant about 2 hours before I was offered a permanent job. I’d been there for 3 weeks on a temp contract. I accepted it as I had no idea how the pregnancy would progress- thankfully it went well and DS turned 13 last week.
I worked to 36 weeks as I was blessed with an easy pregnancy. Unfortunately as I had severe PND I didn’t go back after DS was born. I needed to take time to sort myself out.

About 4 months into a one year contract. Unfortunately, I had a miscarriage, but got pregnant again shortly after, after maybe 7 months. My field doesn’t offer a lot of permanent jobs, so most of us would be waiting a very long time to have a baby if we waited til we’d been somewhere for 2 years!

6 years

Look, things happen, people get pregnant, the law applies. Maternity leave is a right, not a priveledge.

People can gossip, say women are taking the piss, that you should work a certain amount of time before getting pregnant, cheeky to dare to take mat leave after two months, blah blah.

None of that matters. You get pregnant, you are entitled to mat leave. The state will recompense the employer for statutorly pay, anything they've negotiated above that is the company's own decision, that they offered to attract the best candidates.

I’ve worked at my organisation for 5.5 years. I had worked there for 18 months before I got pregnant with DS1. Went back after a year, got promoted nearly 2 years later whilst I was pregnant again with DS2 but hadn’t told anyone except my immediate manager. I had to go through the application and interview process still, but I didn’t feel guilty as i’d been acting up to the role for 6 months anyway! I’m on maternity leave now and being promoted again while I’m off due to a restructure

I don’t think any woman should feel guilty. In the span of most women’s professional career and the amount of time she will spend at work, the tax she will pay and the service she will give the employer, the time she spends on maternity leave really pales into insignificance.

We started trying for a baby 1 month after I had been made permanent and it took us 3 months of TTC, so 4 months in total. I had worked there for 2 years on temp contracts, plan on working there for as long as they will keep me and have zero guilt about getting pregnant as soon as I could after being made permanent. Like Cadbury says, the time i will spend on mat leave will be insignificant compared to my overall service.

I worked with a woman who, judging by her dates, must have known she was pregnant when she took the job. Four months later, she was off on maternity leave. She took the full year and came back six months gone. She managed to drag herself to the office for a while two months before taking another year’s maternity leave.

Six whole months of work in two and a half years on the payroll.

If you are in a probation period then of course employers will find an excuse to fire a pregnant woman. I’m sure it happens all of the time. They won’t want to find cover, especially if it’s a smaller company.

7 years

Oh FGS, I was hired because of my skills and experience, I'm also in my early 30s, clearly a woman and was clearly wearing a wedding ring.

Women have babies, dedicated people who are good at their jobs tend to go back after mat leave and resume being great at their jobs. Honestly, people need to get over it.

About four years with the first, didn't feel it fair to start a new role and then abandon it.

I'm sure employers are already out off by employing women much less ones that arrive pregnant or are shortly after then don't even bother returning. Quite why they just don't temp rather than mess people around is beyond me.

I found out I was pregnant three weeks before I started my new job. I ended up telling them before my 12 week scan due to complications.

My employer bent over backwards to help and be supportive. After maternity I didnt want to go back full time so they found me a homeworking role for 25 hours a week which suits me perfectly.

They have won countless awards for supporting women in business. Not all employers are the same.

A month!

We’d been trying for about six months, I was made redundant and tbh we just didn’t really think about it. I had been there just enough time to qualify for maternity pay and leave.

I have been there over ten years now (and a subsequent pregnancy) so I’ve made up for it! If people judged they certainly didn’t do it to my face!

I found out i was pregnant two months after starting a new job, so i technically got pregnant the second month of being there. They were supportive and fine. It was a female dominated office, they were used to it!

I know of someone who purposely waited until she started a job with a fantastic maternity package until she started TTC. Clever tactical manoeuvre on her part I suppose.

I have appointed women who are pregnant and also women on maternity leave as they were the best people for the job and I take the long view! I worked for 5 years before I had children and have worked for 20 years since returning from maternity leave.

Three months.

It was pretty obviously an accident as I didn't qualify for their very generous maternity leave package and had been seen smoking and drinking at a work Christmas party not long before I had to tell them I was pregnant. They were absolutely brilliant even though I then had to take three weeks sick leave during pregnancy and gave birth at 35 weeks. I took 13 months maternity leave and then went back for 18 months before going on maternity leave again. They are still brilliant - say that they think I'm great at my job and an excellent long term investment, that I'll be back aged 34 having had my kids and ready for the rest of my career. It's how it should be... but I'm very grateful.

I became pregnant 2 months into a 6 month probation and work were brilliant.
I was very ill with severe morning sickness and SPD and they accommodated all of it.
They even were massively supportive when I got pre eclampsia and delivered my DS at 33 weeks which nearly killed us both. I didn't go back but they definitely didn't want to fire me

I started a job at the start of August and was pregnant by the end of November. I went off on maternity leave in the middle of July so hasn't been there quite a full year. I had been ttc before getting the job offer and stopped for a few months as I didn't want to be juggling being newly pregnant in a new job. I was approaching 30 though and didn't want to wait any longer so resumed ttc not long after starting.

To the poster who said "six months work in 2.5 years of payroll" I very much doubt she would have qualified for a full year of pay (the first time) having only been there a few months before taking maternity leave.
Normally you have to have been employed before you were pregnant (26 weeks before 15 weeks before your due date) for 39 weeks statutory pay and more generous packages are usually only offered after a year of service though that varies wildly.

I got an in-between package. I got the full statutory amount (roughly equivalent to my usual wage anyway) for 39 weeks instead of the 90%.

It would be illegal to fire someone for being pregnant, however an employer doesn't have to pay maternity pay until an employee has been in post for 26 weeks by 15 weeks before the baby is due. Some nice ones might though!

CoughLaughFart what a total butch, putting her life and happiness before going to work

I found out I was pregnant 1 month into my current job. My boss took it well but I do think she was seething deep down 😬 ah well, tough shit innit

*bitch

For my first pregnancy I found out a week before I was due to start a new job, I ended up telling them when I was about 8wks as I was going to a lot of initial appointments and my direct boss was new (she had started a few weeks after me) and I didn’t want her to think I was looking for other work. She was wonderful and told me I wasn’t obliged to tell anybody anything at any point in my pregnancy so I didn’t share the news more broadly until I was about 15wks or so mainly because a colleague was pregnant and we were due two weeks apart so it was nice having someone going through the same thing. I worked up until 39wks, ended up having my daughter about 4 days after I finished up.

Second pregnancy I knew during the interview process and started when I was 18wks, it was only an initial contract of 3mths so i didn’t bother to tell them until I was about 33wks and they’d offered me an extension to stay on longer, so I stayed until I was 39wks.

Currently I’m about 8-9 wks pregnant and doing interviews and don’t intend on telling anyone anything.

My work is very transient and contracts can be from 3 months to 18 months long, so I’m not inclined to put myself at a potential disadvantage if it’s irrelevant to the length of my contract. I’ve never been in any of these contracts for the minimum of 12mths to be entitled to employer paid maternity leave so it’s never been a worry for them.

In any case, whatever job I get next I intend to work up until 39wks again and I’ll be taking the bare minimum 2-4wks maybe of annual leave (if I have it accrued) to give birth/recover and DH will do stay at home duties. So if I get a longer contract I’ll put this forward to them when I see fit.

Short of pregnancy going a bit sideways and impacting on your ability to show up and do the work I think it’s irrelevant to let anyone know really. I’ve yet to receive any negative or adverse reactions from employers or colleagues during my pregnancies, and both previous jobs have offered or had me back once I’m ready so I’d like to think my skills and experience speak positively for themselves. Anyone who discriminates isn’t particularly an employer I’d want to work for.

I found out i was pregnant a month and a half in to my last job. I told them straight away as needed time off because i was put on bed rest. They still hired me after the 3 month probationary period. Although they said they had never done that before.