To think this is pregnancy discrimination?

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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.

And this:

"The ‘zero-hours contract’ is not a defined term in English law. It is simply the name given to a contract which is flexible for both sides in that the employer does not have to offer a specific amount of work, or indeed any work at all, and the worker is not obliged to accept the offer of work."

So unless she was employed under a zero hours contract from the outset it's highly possible the employer is acting unlawfully.

IMO there’s more to this.

OP why did you leave an already established job to take up a casual job? You said yourself it was a casual setup, no signed contracts, not even giving over your bank details.

What happened to make you want to leave your first job or were you dismissed from that hence agreeing to start a job with no terms.

To be honest, posting on social media before telling your actual employer that you’re pregnant I don’t blame them for wanting to get rid of you. You’re clearly not honest, at what point were you planning to tell them? In fact, were you actually planning to tell them?

I think you’re best off seeking advice from somewhere like citizen advice who might be able to help you more of this one.

But personally wouldn’t have posted on social media without telling work if I had colleagues on there or if you wanted to post without them seeing you could have hidden them from viewing it. I know how uncomfortable it is telling work I had lots of anxiety about telling mine but I think it was a bit crappy to just post on SM and just think “ah well don’t need to tell them now because they’ve probably seen my Facebook post” that is a bit off

Contact pregnant then screwed

I think you've bombed here .
You need to speak to someone with employment knowledge.

To all those saying op was wrong to post on sm. She has no obligation to declare her pregnancy to work officially until she's ready.

None whatsoever and the law is clear on this.

I have been passed over for jobs and promotions by being 'honest' about pregnancies and I'm glad these laws are there.

54000 women are screwed over simply for the fact they are the ones who gestate and birth the next batch of taxpayers.

I sincerely hope none of you are employers.

but she has no pregnancy rights or case now because she hasn't told them 🤷‍♀️

@WasIWasINot I was doing the same job at a large company, and I left because of burnout. The hours were all over the place, late shifts followed by a 5am start with no flexibility, and I would only get one day a week off and be hounded into overtime so I approached this small company (there was no job advertised) and they offered me the job which meant I’d also get two days off a week and more of a 9-5. I had thought after posting it would be discussed at my next shift, but there was no next shift.

@CandyLeBonBon I am one of those who commented saying OP should have told work before posting on SM. I do agree with what you are saying because you are correct, 25 weeks you have to tell them and you’re not obliged to tell them any earlier. But morally if you knew you had work on your Facebook I think the majority of people will agree it’s a bit disrespectful to the employer and probably a shock if a new ish colleague has announced her pregnancy online where they can see it.

It doesn’t sound like there is a good working relationship here, on both sides. But I think the employer sounds like they have taken new colleague for a ride getting her to do jobs not in her contract especially if she says 90% of her work isn’t what she’s paid too do.

Of course she doesn't have to tell them, but then it gives them a get out clause to say they didn't know.

I think you immediately need to email them saying I know you probably know already as I’ve announced it on social media but I’m just informing you officially that I am pregnant so that we can look at risk assessments etc.

See what they come back with.

If they say oh no we didn’t know then really you don’t have a leg to stand on for what has happened up to now. However if they do discriminate against you further then you will have proof they know from this point onwards.

They sound really unprofessional.

but she has no pregnancy rights or case now because she hasn't told them 🤷‍♀️

Yes. She does.

If op takes this further, there is evidence to suggest that just because they have not commented on her Fb posts, doesn't mean they haven't seen it.

I agree it was not ideal. Her rights still stand and in a tribunal, the burden of proof is on the employer to prove they could not possibly have known she was pregnant. Which, based on historic interaction (which will be taken into account) would be very difficult to do.

As I say, I was in a very similar situation and they also tried to say 'they didn't know' but it didn't fly for so many reasons - previous social media interaction being one of them,

I know not all cases are the same, but on the surface of it, there are certainly reasons to think the op might have a case.

The only thing I would say op is don't bother going with a 'no win no fee' lawyer - they won't take it because their return will be too low for a part time, low paid job. I hope pregnant then screwed can help - also look at maternityaction.org.uk/advice/pregnancy-discrimination/ - good luck. And good luck with your pregnancy too.

Unfortunately I think they can claim not to know given that you haven’t formally told them in writing

@CandyLeBonBon - I am one of those 54,000 women. I don’t agree with those saying she had a moral obligation either. I just think practically it was a really silly thing to do and has very much weakened OPs position. By all means post your pregnancy all over social media but it’s still not smart to do if you know your employers are on your social media and you haven’t told them yet. Even more so when you’ve worked for a company for 5 minutes. As many of us know the law can say one thing but enforcing it is a whole other thing.

I had a really strong case according to Pregnant then Screwed but I chose not to go through with it because I didn’t want to deal with the stress and also I work in a fairly close knit industry and I wanted to work again. The law may say XYZ but reality is much more grey.

I think though it will depend on a) the timing of issuing of contact and post and b) did her actual employer (whoever issued contract) interact with every single post (other people associated wouldn’t count as you can’t accept maternity news from anyone other than the pregnant person). The balance of probabilities could be arguable either way and it will come down to who can provide the most compelling argument.

The other potential issue is that before any such announcement the OP was being given different duties -potentially indicating that there wasn’t enough work at this point for OP or some other issue that instigated the OPs zero hours.

Either way a legitimate advisory organisation should be consulted rather than us Internet lot!

Yes I hear you. I did go through with the tribunal and it was horribly horribly stressful as I didn't have representation. It's not for the faint hearted and they played dirty, claimed 'they didn't know' etc etc. it's horrible and no, I don't think the sm thing was wise but it's done now and what the OP's employers have done is really shady.

Agreed @Gabby8

As you have told told them could thr fact be that you are not getting hours before of your work not being up to standard?

It's easy for people to say just because your pregnant it is discrimination but there could be another reason?

Well you have really shot yourself in the foot here. Why on earth did you announce your pregnancy on social media rather than tell them! Employers are not obliged to follow your social media.

Did you discuss a contact before you started there? Did you agree a certain amount of hours?

But you thought them finding out through social media would improve things?

@CandyLeBonBon I understand what you are saying about SM interactions but given the very short time frame, I would have thought it shouldn't be too difficult to say they politely looked at a few of her posts and then didn't like her posting style or something . There won't be that many interactions surely

I was thinking this. I would absolutely be looking to ease op out the door.

I don't know which social media you posted on but surely your colleagues can easily claim that they haven't been on that platform since then, that they missed your post etc, so far too easy for them to claim they don't know you are pregnant - and no way for you to prove that this is why you suddenly have no hours. To be honest, if they created this post when you approached them and you haven't even been doing the work for which you are qualified but filling in with other office work (and cleaning - what the heck is that all about?) then could it not be that they now realise that they don't actually have enough work for you?