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.

One month in to a one year temp contract I told my manager. It was an accidental pregnancy, and 4 months wait from job confirmation to actually starting, I didn't want an abortion based on having a fixed term low paid job. I did/do lots of heavy lifting and also had spd very badly from 20 weeks so I had sick leave too, I felt so bad about the sick leave so I took my mat leave as early as possible so they could stop paying me.

My manager was awful about it and I did kind of understand why but what choice did I have, quitting the job would of just made life very difficult for me and my family. She said she would never of given me the job if she'd of known I was pregnant. I had to keep telling her that I wasn't pregnant at the interview. She was always asking 'was it planned' as though I did it just to spite her.

But I suppose as children are a parents choice you won’t expect their taxes to pay for your aged care at some stage...

Ha! You have some very strange (or at best optimistic) ideas of how the care system is going if you think the taxpayer will be funding it by the time I’m retired.

And presumably you realise I pay taxes now?

Cough so you are saying every pregnant woman should give up their job?

Clearly not - but don’t take on a new one knowing you’re pregnant and then get pregnant again before even finishing your mat leave.

I'd been there 2 weeks when I got pregnant. We'd been trying for a long while and were awaiting fertility treatment so I never dreamed it might actually happen!

I kept my mouth shut until I was out of my probationary period because I couldn't afford to lose my job for some fabricated reason. I told them at 18 weeks and I'll be leaving at 36 weeks

I miss out on SMP by 2 days so I'll only get Maternity Allowance which is annoying but so be it. I'm not going back afterwards so I'll be looking for another job towards the end of my maternity leave

Not an ideal situation but what can I do?

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?

Have you ever heard of The Law?

BTW maternity pay or maternity allowance is absolutely shitty. I wouldn't spend too much time simmering with resentment over pocket money if I were you.

Clearly not - but don’t take on a new one knowing you’re pregnant and then get pregnant again before even finishing your mat leave

So you think your colleague should have had a termination for the sake of her colleagues?

I had been with the company 4 years when I fell pregnant but had been full time for 9 months when I found out.

Had to tell the boss at 8 weeks for risk assessments etc.

I used to get full sick pay but mat pay was just SMP.

I left the company while on mat leave in July 2017 but then started again with them in Nov 2017 because I wasn't allowed to go back to my original contract so I had to quit.

So you think your colleague should have had a termination for the sake of her colleagues?

Can you even read?

I was hired when I was 6 months pregnant and started when I was 7 months pregnant. I worked until I was 39 weeks and took 8 weeks leave so I could come back and lead an audit this qualify for promotion. They denied me the promotion because my coach was a bitch.

Partner never forgot and when I asked for a transfer to a very prestigious group she pushed me forward. She also took me to one side and really helped me find my way as a working mother with a full on career. She was a single parent after nursing her DH and him passing. When I left she said I was the riskiest hire she had ever made and the best hire the department had made in decades.

Started in June, pregnant 3 months later.

I didn't tell them prior to my probation period being up, but it was obvious by that point (pp is 6 months).

They were very good about it.

Have you ever heard of The Law?

Yes, I’ve heard if it. And it isn’t always right.

Yes, I’ve heard if it. And it isn’t always right.

'Right' in what sense? It is legally 'right', so 'right' in any sense that actually matters.

Yes, I’ve heard if it. And it isn’t always right

Well that's your (ill informed) opinion. You still have to follow the rules. I'm very sorry that not every pure you at the centre of their decision making though

Eh?

I'm actually interested to know CoughLaughFart what you think is 'right'? Do you think it's right to sack a pregnant woman because she's pregnant? Or to give a limit on how many pregnancies a woman has before being sacked? Must a woman's consideration to get pregnant go to public consultation seeing as you're so concerned about how it affects people around her?

not everyone puts is what my other post should have said!

What I think is right is to not use your job as somewhere warm to sit between pregnancies.

So you think it's not right to exercise your statutory rights and claim maternity leave for every and any pregnancy, and go back to that job?

Do you get pissed off with people taking sick leave?

Considering I was the only female that done my job they didn't really care that I quit.

Just heard that a new starter in my office, literally first day today, she will be going off on 3 July for maternity leave. She won’t even have completed her training by then.

Have already heard one (male) colleague bitching about men get it hard. Irony is, his girlfriend works for us too and we have a great parental leave swap scheme so he could take a year off on parental leave and she come back if they wanted. Plus - totally missing the point that the interviewer and hiring person thought the aforementioned pregnant new starter was worth the risk!

I was there about 9 weeks before I developed hyperemesis when I was about 5 weeks pregnant and was then signed off for 10 weeks and then reduced hours for a further 3 weeks. My probation period was 6 months and I was terrified they would let me go - to their credit everyone was really great about it and it was all fine. I'm 38 weeks now and on maternity leave!

about 6 years.

I can sort of sympathise with employers who may have to re-do a recruitment process (for maternity cover) sooner than they expected after hiring a woman who is pregnant/becomes pregnant soon.

However, this can happen for other reasons beyond pregnancy:

A newly hired employee could leave for a better offer, or could turn out to not be as competent as expected, or might leave because of other changes in their life (shock horror, this can happen with male employees too!)

It just a part of recruitment surely? Employers would, ideally for them, have super loyal employees and never have to recruit for the same role within a short space of time. But, as with so many things in business, they have to cope with reality not the ideal. Decent businesses should be prepared for this, and inconvenience is NOT an excuse to deny worker's their rights.

Its nice to be loyal and all, but I don't think we should feel obliged to put loyalty to our employer above our own interests. PP's who seem to think we should may get a nasty shock in the future if they encounter "restructuring" , because I can pretty much guarantee their employers don't reciprocate this loyalty!

I'd been working for my old employers for a few years before I became pregnant. I delayed telling them until I started to show as there were some areas I needed experience/responsibility in and I suspected I might get shunted off the juicy projects when they knew!

Now unemployed, and tbh it is a factor in when/if we have more kids: If I still had a job we might have another child now/soon. But it is hard enough in my industry at the moment without turning up to interview pregnant!

I left a god awful job on March 2017 to move to the job of my dreams in mid April 2017. 22nd June, I found out I was 5 weeks gone! We hadn't been trying so was a shock, but a lovely and amazing one. The person I told after my husband was my boss - I explained I love my job and that I want to come back, I will dip in and out during maternity leave as we are a small growing business but that the baby would always come first. I promised that I would give it my all till I left for mat leave and I did. I finished for mat leave end of Jan. Worked out absolutely fine! I keep my hand in with Kit days and will be doing back in a few months on a part time basis. I think if you work hard and are committed to your job, there is no reason you can't have an excellent work/life balance. Needless to say I have an absolutely amazing boss. And incidentally, when I go back I will be working towards Directorship - hooray! No reason you have to choose between one or the other. We are more than capable of doing both!