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.

Also SMP is £139 a week. Hardly something to be jealous about

12 weeks

Nine years but only two months into a two year secondment that requires national travel. They don't know yet. Oops.

8 years

About 3 months in 1989. I took 3 months off and went back to work. My employers never suggested they wouldn't keep my job open.

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

What about the lives and happiness of her team, who had to spend time replacing her (twice), retraining those replacements (twice) and covering the gaps in between (twice)?

God forbid she should have thought of any of this before applying for a new job while pregnant.

“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.”

Yeah, she sounds like a real Machiavellian piece of work. Using a part of her remuneration package for its intended purpose - unbelievable cheek

I found out I was pregnant 5 months into a 1 year contract. I was lucky enough to be within the time frame to claim full maternity pay (6 weeks 90% wage, remainder at statutory), but did not have a job to go back to when my maternity finished.

“What about the lives and happiness of her team, who had to spend time replacing her (twice), retraining those replacements (twice) and covering the gaps in between (twice)?”

Do you realise how much women’s careers and lives are affected by motherhood? Say this woman turned down the job for moral reasons. Went through the whole pregnancy and newborn phase with no maternity pay. And then found herself unable to find a job at the end of it because she a) had a young child and b) had been out of the workforce for too long?

This happens ALL. THE. TIME. Do you really think that the life-changing effect of this is less than the suffering of her colleagues? So they had to recruit a replacement and cover some work. So fucking what? That’s what work is like.

So why was that one woman more important than the people whose lives she affected?

5 years but I now need to find something new whilst on mat leave and I'm terrified i won't be able to if I mention I'm on mat leave

About 2 years. I'd been made permanent after a 6 month contract.

I also had 2 more. This caused some raised eyebrows because "omg 3DC / maternity leaves".

But hey 2/3 of my (female) maternity cover temps got permanent jobs out of it. There's a lot of movement in our department, because of the demographics.

Almost 11 years and I'm 4 months pregnant. My colleague is having her first and she has been there 10. Absolutely nobody has batted an eyelid but then because I have been there so long they assume I will come back and be part of the furniture again. I don't know how I will feel yet...

What about the lives and happiness of her team, who had to spend time replacing her (twice), retraining those replacements (twice) and covering the gaps in between (twice)?

God forbid she should have thought of any of this before applying for a new job while pregnant.

Erm I hate to state the obvious, but how is that her problem or responsibility? If a manager can't cope with people taking maternity leave or leaving their job they're in the wrong job. Some people actually have lives outside of work.

How far should a woman cast her net for people to 'consider' when getting pregnant? Her neighbours, who might hear a baby cry? Her cousins, who might get married and therefore pay for a child's meal at their wedding? A random person in their home town who might want to get on the bus and use the pram space the same time as them? Can you not see how that's ridiculous?

So why was that one woman more important than the people whose lives she affected?

She had a baby, she didn't kill anyone. I strongly suggest you don't run a business if you can't abide by legal obligations such as maternity leave. Jesus this attitude is drenched in misogyny

So why was that one woman more important than the people whose lives she affected?

She was exercising her legal right to maternity leave. Your attitude is repugnant.

I was just pregnant when I applied, and about 8 weeks when I started. A bit embarrassing to tell them at ~14 weeks or whenever it was, but no problem, went on mat leave as late as possible (I did that with my first pregnancy too and it had suited me well), after a couple of weeks overlap with my cover. Came back part time after 7 or so months leave (shows you how long ago this was) . I'm still there and everyone is happy.

What about the lives and happiness of her team, who had to spend time replacing her (twice), retraining those replacements (twice) and covering the gaps in between (twice)?

That's just how the working world works i'm afraid! Unlike most other types of leave, at least with maternity leave the employer gets a considerable amount of notice.

An employee has to give I think around 15 weeks notice before she starts her maternity leave, where I work we get full pay for 18 weeks then SMP for 21 weeks. If an employee goes on long term sick leave they don't have to give any notice at all and can get up to 6 months full pay then 6 months half pay, depending on their length of service. Guess which is more inconvenient and costly?! But how DARE these people take leave they are entitled to... scandalous.

I arrived pregnant I found out a little while after my interview, but there was a delay of a few months between me being offered the post and my start date so I was actually 3 months gone when I started. It made for some awkward conversations and i didn’t get enhanced Mat pay but otherwise they were good about it. I went back to work after 10 months because of finances, which was a shame as I would have liked to have longer of with DS but needs must.

18 months.
I did wait until I qualified for the generous (ish!) mat pay. I don’t feel guilty about that. I’ve worked there 7 years now, have no plans to leave and they more than get their pound of flesh.
I was delighted when my firm made a senior hire recently who was pregnant - the best person for the job.

I worked for a company around 5 years before going on Mat leave, didn't go back as I found a job closer to home, worked their for 11 months before I found out I was pregnant with number 2, I'm going back to this job though lol

I've worked for the same organization for 15 years (and technically another 9 months as a temp before that). The grand total of 14 months I had off on maternity leave for 2 babies isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

In the job I was in at the time, I'd been there around 5 months when I got pregnant with my eldest. Was back off maternity leave for a year before falling pregnant with my youngest. Even now, people I used to work with there still refer to me as the one who was aways knocked up and ask when I'm having another!

Erm I hate to state the obvious, but how is that her problem or responsibility?

In the same vein, why is it is the responsibility of the company she joined to give her maternity benefits, when she did so knowing full well she couldn’t commit to them? Isn’t that obvious too?

^^ because it's her right as an employee to claim maternity benefits, and the law says it's the employers responsibility to offer maternity leave.

I found out I was pregnant 1 month into a new job. My previous employer found out I was having a wobble because I wouldn't get SMP so they offered me my old job back. Practically begged me to go back to them. Reinstated my contract and god forbid I got full Maternity pay. Even knowing I couldn't commit to them for 9 months. I suppose in the grand scheme of things, 9 months out of 10 years isn't too much of an inconvenience.

Cough so you are saying every pregnant woman should give up their job? As they can't commit to it any longer? Whether you have been in a post 1 month or 10 years it makes no difference. If you are right for the job then they will wait for you to come back, not that they have a choice mind- what with those pesky women's rights and all.

Also, most places only offer statutory if you’ve just joined which is reimbursed by the government... But I suppose as children are a parents choice you won’t expect their taxes to pay for your aged care at some stage...