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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think this is pregnancy discrimination?

109 replies

Moonpigdotcomm · 07/03/2023 14:57

I started a new job a few months ago. The job was part time, but every day with the same working hours. The company is a very small family run business, in an industry that requires certain skills/qualifications in order to do the job. When I started I’d already been qualified for a year and had worked at another company doing the same job. Despite this I felt very much like a spare part from the beginning, being given work outside of my job role such as cleaning and office work 90% of the time because I’m ‘less experienced’ than the other staff and made to feel like I have to prove myself first.

a few weeks into starting the job I found out I was pregnant, which was very happy news after having some problems conceiving. I kept it to myself for a while, hiding the morning sickness and fatigue at work and just getting on with it. After the scan I posted the news on SM and nobody from the company acknowledged it. I’d felt uneasy about telling them in person because of how new I was in the role.

Immediately after my announcement they stopped updating my rota and it just showed I had no hours. This went on for a couple of weeks, and when I asked about it I was told that there wasn’t enough work for me this week. A few days later I received a contract in the post saying I’m now on a zero hours contract. I tried to get in contact about this and was ignored. Another month has now gone by and I’ve not been offered any hours or had any contact with them at all.

Is this their way of getting rid of me for being pregnant? I wasn’t planning on taking any real maternity leave anyway since my partner is a SAHD and I could have easily carried on doing the hours after a few weeks off since it wasn’t full time. I’m getting UC and I’m worried it’s going to mess up my claim.

OP posts:
devildeepbluesea · 07/03/2023 18:44

ChilliBandit · 07/03/2023 18:41

@devildeepbluesea - hence I am interested in what Pregnant than Screwed have to say. I don’t think this is as clear cut as you are trying to make out. ACAS aren’t great at pregnancy discrimination by the way. Pregnant then Screwed had me in front of a solicitor in a week.

I used to work at ACAS (although not in conciliation) - I don’t disagree re Pregnant and Screwed or, indeed, Maternity Action actually. OP might well be better off contacting these organisations.

Original poster
Moonpigdotcomm · 07/03/2023 18:44

@ElizabethBest that was the first ever contract I’d received (to say it changed to zero hours about six weeks after starting) it’s a small company of five people with no HR and I didn’t even do any formal paperwork before I started. I wasn’t even aware of my hourly wage until my first pay day and I had to tell them my bank details in person because none of this had been written down. I didn’t formally tell them no, and not sure about probation because as I say, it’s not a big company it’s just a few family members who work together and it’s all very casual

OP posts:
devildeepbluesea · 07/03/2023 18:46

Moonpigdotcomm · 07/03/2023 18:44

@ElizabethBest that was the first ever contract I’d received (to say it changed to zero hours about six weeks after starting) it’s a small company of five people with no HR and I didn’t even do any formal paperwork before I started. I wasn’t even aware of my hourly wage until my first pay day and I had to tell them my bank details in person because none of this had been written down. I didn’t formally tell them no, and not sure about probation because as I say, it’s not a big company it’s just a few family members who work together and it’s all very casual

If you have it written down that they are changing your contract terms then you should definitely speak to the organisations mentioned.

Eyerollcentral · 07/03/2023 18:49

Moonpigdotcomm · 07/03/2023 18:37

Yes I’m aware I should have told them beforehand, I was just very anxious about it as they were always overly critical of me and in the moment it seemed like posting about it would be the best way. I know now it was a stupid move on my part

It was incredibly foolish. As someone else has said you need to speak to ACAS. However you also said you were having to do other jobs in the office before any of this because they said they didn’t have enough work for you to do which again is going to make this harder to prove. Speak to acas but I’d say you’ll have an uphill struggle

BIGB00BS · 07/03/2023 18:49

Yes its discrimination but I cant believe you announced on social media that you were pregnant without telling work. That's shocking.

KateAusten · 07/03/2023 18:50

I would never work for a small family business, you will always be treated differently

Brunilde · 07/03/2023 18:55

This doesn't even seem like pregnancy distrimination. It sounds like they weren't happy with you to start with anyway. Then you behaved awful by not even having the respect to discuss the pregnancy with your boss before putting it on social media. No idea the legal situation but you don't sound like a good employee, regardless of the pregnancy.

GoodChat · 07/03/2023 18:55

OP you never had a contract to start with and you haven't formally told them you're pregnant. Do you at least have an email with a job offer?

CandyLeBonBon · 07/03/2023 18:56

If they used the words 'changed to zero hours' in that letter, that implies it wasn't zero hours before. What hours did you work prior to this and was it consistent from the word go.

It's not illegal to post about your pregnancy on SM (although not advisable) but if you have any emails with start times, hours/days expected to work etc, then use those as they will form part of your contract, written or not. If you have consistently worked the same hours/days since you started, then you might have some legroom here

CandyLeBonBon · 07/03/2023 18:58

GoodChat · 07/03/2023 18:55

OP you never had a contract to start with and you haven't formally told them you're pregnant. Do you at least have an email with a job offer?

Contracts don't have to be in writing

sweeneytoddsrazor · 07/03/2023 19:01

How many weeks had you worked the same hours.? I thought someone once told me if you do exactly the same shifts for a number of consecutive weeks then you are legally entitled to be contracted them, but I may be wrong.

GoodChat · 07/03/2023 19:02

No they don't, @CandyLeBonBon, but she has only been there for 6 weeks, presumably one pay day, so it's going to be hard to prove terms with nothing at all in writing

BIGB00BS · 07/03/2023 19:04

Oh and the fact that you haven't told them, they can just say they didn't know so how can that actually be pregnancy discrimination? You won't have a leg to stand on.

Clarabell77 · 07/03/2023 19:04

ChilliBandit · 07/03/2023 18:34

Yes I know, hence my last line….

Racial discrimination bit irrelevant here. The company has plausible deniability. There is no way to prove they saw the post.

Show quote history

Would the company not need to prove that there were no hours for OP to work?

CandyLeBonBon · 07/03/2023 19:08

GoodChat · 07/03/2023 19:02

No they don't, @CandyLeBonBon, but she has only been there for 6 weeks, presumably one pay day, so it's going to be hard to prove terms with nothing at all in writing

There are standard rules relating to employment law which all employers must adhere to regardless of whether there was a written contract or not. A tribunal will want evidence that the company has adhered to its statutory obligations. Regardless of time served, if the op has consistently worked the same hours and days since she started, and those hours were discussed informally by email, then reduction of hours without consultation is not within statutory rules. So whilst there are a lot of ifs and maybes which only the op can answer (is there any correspondence stating start date, times, hours etc) - if so she's in a strong position regardless of there being no written contract.

But it does rather depend on those items to make proving discrimination easier.

CandyLeBonBon · 07/03/2023 19:14

BIGB00BS · 07/03/2023 19:04

Oh and the fact that you haven't told them, they can just say they didn't know so how can that actually be pregnancy discrimination? You won't have a leg to stand on.

Evidence is based on balance of probabilities in tribunal cases, not evidence to prove beyond all reasonable doubt. So it's entirely possible that evidence of previous interactions with her posts would be considered indicative of their likely awareness of the situation. IANAL but I went through a similar tribunal for a similar reason with a similar type of company and the evidence included in the bundles can include third party conversations etc - it's a bit different to a cps case afaik, unless things have changed?

GoodChat · 07/03/2023 19:14

@CandyLeBonBon do you know what that time frame is?

I thought it was something like 6 months or a year. I thought that became the case when they changed the rules about freelancers 5/6 years ago but I may well be wrong.

OP has said she didn't even know what her hourly rate was until her first pay day which is why I hoped she had some kind of written offer.

Sassyfox · 07/03/2023 19:17

What did the job advert say?

Was there any mention of zero hours in the advert or at the interview?

I don’t know the rules if you are on a probation period but if you’re not then they cannot just change your contract to zero hours.

I would email them and say that this was never mentioned and why has it not been mentioned in the X months that you’ve worked there.

Bigmirrorssmallrooms · 07/03/2023 19:18

She only worked there six weeks and had no contract then was given a zero hours one which she didn’t reject, she’s not even told them she’s pregnant. There is no discrimination case here.

im concerned the op isn’t getting she’s unemployed .

Bigmirrorssmallrooms · 07/03/2023 19:18

Sassyfox · 07/03/2023 19:17

What did the job advert say?

Was there any mention of zero hours in the advert or at the interview?

I don’t know the rules if you are on a probation period but if you’re not then they cannot just change your contract to zero hours.

I would email them and say that this was never mentioned and why has it not been mentioned in the X months that you’ve worked there.

gotta read the thread, or at least the ops posts,

shimmeringspice · 07/03/2023 19:19

Moonpigdotcomm · 07/03/2023 18:37

Yes I’m aware I should have told them beforehand, I was just very anxious about it as they were always overly critical of me and in the moment it seemed like posting about it would be the best way. I know now it was a stupid move on my part

Can't have been that anxious to post your pregnancy announcement knowing full well they can view your post / follow you on social. How odd.

Sassyfox · 07/03/2023 19:21

gotta read the thread, or at least the ops posts,

@Bigmirrorssmallrooms

I can’t see anywhere where OP mentions the job advert or interview.

gelatogina · 07/03/2023 19:22

You didn't know the hourly rate before you took the job, and you didn’t think to ask?

CandyLeBonBon · 07/03/2023 19:23

GoodChat · 07/03/2023 19:14

@CandyLeBonBon do you know what that time frame is?

I thought it was something like 6 months or a year. I thought that became the case when they changed the rules about freelancers 5/6 years ago but I may well be wrong.

OP has said she didn't even know what her hourly rate was until her first pay day which is why I hoped she had some kind of written offer.

This from op www.acas.org.uk/zero-hours-contracts

Doesn't sound like those were the terms she was employed under but again, only op knows the details.

surreygirl1987 · 07/03/2023 19:23

*Considering you haven’t told them you’re pregnant then no, you wouldn’t be able to say they were discriminating against you because they don’t “know”.

Why on earth would you announce it on Facebook but not officially tell them so you would be protected and they could carry out a risk assessment? Confused*

This! You haven't actually 'told' them?! I would be pretty annoyed if one of my department posted about their pregnancy on SM, and I could see it, but she hadn't actually told me. I do think you are being discriminated against but they don't officially 'know' so it's easy for them to defend!!

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