To have done a job interview at 20 weeks pregnant and not disclosed

[Kinekia]

I’m 25 weeks pregnant.

My original manager knew from 6 weeks in January as HG (severe morning sickness) kicked in at 6 weeks and I ended up on the sick for 2 months. After 2 months I returned as I’d found a medication protocol that allowed
me to get back to normality. I worked in an entry level customer service role. They have dozens of staff so my pregnancy didn’t really affect the team that much.

An internal role came up within the business in March. It would essentially be a promotion. Pay rise, more responsibilities (but generally nicer hours and less front-line customer contact, which is a huge bonus), no weekends, smaller team. I applied expecting nothing to come of it. I surprisingly got invited for an interview in April. I was 20 weeks when I interviewed. I had pondered over whether to disclose the pregnancy at the interview. This internal department is in a different part of the building to where I worked so they don’t know me at all. And my line manager at the time confirmed they wouldn’t tell them about the pregnancy and that it was up to me when I disclose. This job role that had come up was something I’ve desired to get into ever since joining the company, and I really wanted to give it my best shot, so I decided not to disclose, as was my legal right.

I interviewed at 20 weeks in April and felt I hid the bump well. We clicked really well at interview and they really liked me. They asked about pre-booked holidays etc. they then asked “Is there anything else we need to know about?” and I cheerfully said “no”. I felt awful about this at the time but on the other hand, as I said, I wanted them to review me as a candidate fairly without just being seen as “the pregnant candidate”.

Middle of May I got offered the role and accepted. The call where they offered the role was very rushed as they were snowed under, and I didn’t get chance to disclose the pregnancy as she said “Right I’ll be in touch when I’ve got a start date I need to go now, take care!” and abruptly hung up.

The next day (my final day before 17 days of annual leave) I messaged the new manager asking if she had time for a call and she never replied. I wanted to disclose the pregnancy then. I then went on the pre-booked
holiday and still didn’t have a start date.

Came back from my holiday and returned to work 26th May after the bank holiday and went to sit in my usual part of the office and got pulled away by my new manager, taken to their department and told I’m starting straight away. By this point I’m 25 weeks so I had to tell them. It was all quite rushed and they’ve been off with me ever since. Nobody has said anything but they aren’t friendly with me like they have been prior and at one point I was asked why I hadn’t disclosed at interview. They exclude me from friendly chat and I have to ask them what they want me to be doing with my time and my training.

I do feel awful for inconveniencing them but I don’t think I did anything wrong by not disclosing at interview. I had intended to tell them earlier than when I did but I just never got the right moment. I thought we’d have a time to sit down together and go through contracts etc and I would’ve mentioned it then but this never happened.

I have seen there is another woman on the team who is pregnant and due to go on leave so I suspect they had intended me to take over from her and that is why they are pissed off. They hadn’t told me this at interview though. Ironically I’m actually due before this other woman so I can see why they are fuming but legally I’ve not done anything wrong. It does prove that if I’d have disclosed at interview they probably would’ve not hired me and would’ve made up a non-pregnancy related reason to justify it.

Am I am awful employee? I’m concerned that my relationship with my managers will never recover from this and it’s a shame as I really have a huge interest in this role and have every intention of going back full-time after mat leave.

And if she had disclosed they would have written her off immediately despite her being the best candidate for the role (obviously as she was hired!)
Which would have been sonething OP wouldn't have forgotten either, but she would have had to just get on with it. Like corprate will have to do now.

Dog eats dog world and this time the little pup got the bone so well done OP.

You deceived them and I'm not surprised they don't trust you now. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's ethical.

Is there a probation period? If there is, I would be worried about failing it. They can argue it's because of poor performance and nothing to do with pregnancy. Be prepared.

All you can do now is do your best at the job and hope that the relationship with your new colleagues recovers over time.

In the real world, this is what most people will think. Men and women of all ages.

Of course they have a valid reason to know about the OP’s pregnancy. The fact that she’ll be buggering off for a year in a few weeks time, dropping them in it when they could have just hired someone capable and available in the first place.

It’s people like the OP who lead to the negative feelings towards women when it comes to their expectations regarding pregnancy.

It’s one thing to be in the early stages of pregnancy, although even then IMO you should disclose, but to not disclose and rock up to a new role at 25 weeks pregnant takes the absolute piss.

I find the results of the poll to be quite sad. Before I retired I was involved in interviewing many people over the years. More than a few went on maternity leave before taking up the post, and I had no forewarning of this.

This was often personally inconvenient to me. But my attitude to this was to reflect that I was so very fortunate to be able to father a child without carrying it for nine months.

100% this. ^

You did not need to disclose you were pregnant. Hell, I didnt KNOW I was pregnant until I was almost as far along as you were.
Pregnancy discrimination is real and it is disgraceful. Still. In 2026 we're more interested in using the right pronouns than accepting that women have babies. It's insane.
If you were in an accident tomorrow (heaven forbid) they would be in the same situation, but that would not be your doing.
Let them be mardy. You are protected. If you are planning on returning, make sure its within the correct window to return to the SAME job, and crack on.
Is it unfortunate timing? Yes. Should you have done a damn thing differently? Absolutely not. Their current treatment of you demonstrates they would not have hired you had they known. Which is the definition of pregnancy discrimination.

She wasn’t the best candidate for the role though.

She might have been if she was actually available to do it, except she’s not.

It may well be within your rights, but as a woman and a manager & team member i would never be able go trust or like you. You've given them more work to do to find a replacement, and can never be counted on in the future when career building opportunities arise.

What makes it hard for women is work places discriminating against pregnancy in the first place which is why pregnancies don't legally have to be disclosed. We all know that if OP did tell them at the interview, she wouldn't have got the job.

That is the issue. Not OP using her legal right to protect herself.

And if they had made their decision on this basis it would have been unlawful discrimination.

If they’d rejected you for the pregnancy then they’d have been breaking the law. I can see why they’re a bit annoyed, but you were within your rights to not disclose and, as PP have said, there’s a reason why the law was brought in.

The managers will get over their snippishness eventually, but if you’re not getting the guidance you need then you should bring that up.

Failure to disclose at the point of starting does potentially mean she’s not entitled to reasonable adjustments attached to pregnancy though.

It’s the same with disability. You don’t have to disclose it, but if you rock up and then demand reasonable adjustments for a condition you’ve lied about, and saying “no” when asked means the OP did lie, means the employer don’t have to accommodate and can in fact terminate the contract.

Pyrrhic victory for OP. Employer would definitely think they were sold a pup.

There's no economy or business without women raising & birthing the workforce

Why have a child if you want to work?

As a member of your new team I wouldn’t be impressed. In my role we wouldn’t have finished training you and signed you off on everything before you go on mat leave then I would have to train your replacement that takes me out of being able to do my job to full capacity for about 6 months. That is rough on your new colleagues

IMO an employer should be perfectly justified in not giving a job to someone who isn’t available to do it for another year. There’s nothing discriminatory about that.

Sacking someone for being pregnant, absolutely. Not employing someone who is 25 weeks pregnant and will be leaving imminently meaning their recruitment campaign was a waste of time, absolutely justified

But what if she had fallen pregnant shortly after she started? Would she have still have been the worst candidate if she knew she was trying for a baby or had an unplanned pregnancy. The difference we would be talking about would be 4 months approximately.

Well you got your wish OP and got the job. And your employer gets to spend the next few weeks pointlessly training you up for a role that you'll then be off from for months and they'll need to repeat when you get back. Oh, and they've got to cover the role for a 3rd time. No wonder they're not friendly.

You may have "won" here but you'll never be trusted by your management. You have completed shafted them. Good luck, you're going to need it.

Thankfully, the law disagrees with you.

There's also nothing that says OP will take 12 months of maternity leave. Maybe she'll be back sooner? Again, these assumptions about women is what is hurting women in the workplace.

Technically you’ve done nothing wrong. But I think you’ve screwed them over in all honesty.

Tbf, if it was an internal vacancy within the business and your manager at the time knew, I'd have expected them already to know. Didn't they see from your sick leave that it was pregnancy related? It was hardly hidden from them, was it?

Exactly this. Technically you’ve done nothing wrong but unless this is a once in a lifetime chance that has come up (doesn’t sound like it) you should have just waited until a role came up after your mat leave. The reality is you can’t have it all, at least not all at once, and now you’ve pissed off your new boss and colleagues. I’m not anti women taking mat leave and I have myself been promoted during/shortly after both my mat leaves but I worked at the company in the same team for 10 years before my first mat leave and told my boss relatively early on so they could plan around it. The reality is mat leave is a massive inconvenience for your team which is not to say it shouldn’t be supported, it absolutely should, but i do think what you did was cheeky and while the company can’t do anything about it, its not a great footing to start on. I’ve had new hires do this (turn up 5 months pregnant) and it absolutely does alter my view of them and make me regret hiring them. Our company offers very generous paid paternity leave, so I apply the exact same standard to men doing this, probably judge them even more harshly tbh, before anyone jumps on me.

What’s hurting women in the workplace is behaviour like OP’s.

This was a planned pregnancy and to be honest I always assumed after getting pregnant I’d want to go part-time and work less. So I didn’t plan to be going for promotions etc.

But then when I got pregnant my attitude went completely the opposite than what I thought it would and I actually felt a desire to build a career and have proper financial stability for my baby and all of a sudden I felt very motivated to build something for myself and considered how I could progress within my current organisation and I was very excited when this role came up.

maybe I should’ve waited for something to come up after mat leave but my previous role involved weekend shifts every week. We have no family support with childcare and my partner’s work also involves unavoidable weekend shifts. They reject flexible working requests to be off weekends as weekends are the busiest day in that role. I physically couldn’t have gone back to my previous role after the baby, so it was now or never to go for this promotion (as I said in the OP, the promotion is Mon-Fri and works perfectly with nursery).

it was either go for the promotion now or face inevitable unemployment after mat leave, and I’d have also had to pay back thousands in enhanced maternity pay