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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to get a job, just so i can get maternity leave and pay

187 replies

doyouthinkthisisok · 19/09/2008 20:24

or do you think its fair enough, you've paid in for years and your only claiming what you are entitled to, or do you think its a bit off?

my dd is 17 months old and we have decided to try for another i am a sahm at the moment.
perhaps i should of gone back to my old job, 5 months ago?
the extra money we would get from mat leave would make it some much easier for us.
of course if i got a job next week, i have no idea how long it would take to get pg

OP posts:
suey2 · 19/09/2008 22:06

I took someone on. 3 months later she told me was pg. She went off early because of spd and stayed off 6 months more than she told me she would. She personally cost me 25k for that time in lost earnings

Bubble99 · 19/09/2008 22:08

Difficult when you run a business that traditionally employs all women of childbearing age...

We manage. But I'm (legally) allowed to say that it can cause problems, no?

Ronaldinhio · 19/09/2008 22:08

I was back for 3 months all together I think....at first I was embarassed but the thing is I work really hard and it would be more expensive to rerecruit and train someone to do my role than to pay a bit of mat and wait for me.

drbread · 19/09/2008 22:09

daisy, thank you for telling me about that. it is very tough when so many traumatic things happen esp in a short time span.
i wish you everyluck in your treatment.
hang on in there, you WILL get there.

LackaDAISYcal · 19/09/2008 22:11

but suey2, if she didn't get pregnant until after she had started working for you she was fully within her rights. I presume she she didn't know she would be so badly affected by SPD. Also maternity leave is for a full year and you are entitled to that full year and to change your mind about the length of leave that you have said you will take provided you give the correct amount of notice.

LackaDAISYcal · 19/09/2008 22:12

thanks Drbread

drbread · 19/09/2008 22:12

it is crazy to try and judge, if it is morally wrong to take a job, i mean what next maybe people that have certain conditions should not get jobs as the might well need time off?
people who don't need the money should not take the jobs when someone else could have the job that neds the money more
? the same with the over 65's.
this is madness.

Bubble99 · 19/09/2008 22:14

Perhaps suey is saying that the employee was Pg at interview but didn't tell her at the time and then told her when she was three months PG?

LackaDAISYcal · 19/09/2008 22:16

If pregnant at the interview she would not have been entitled to SMP or OML though as she would not have met the qualifying requirements.

Bubble99 · 19/09/2008 22:16

I think the difference, drbread - is that people with certain conditions may need time off, but pg women will need time off?

Bubble99 · 19/09/2008 22:17

She'd still have been entitled to sick pay, though?

mazzystar · 19/09/2008 22:17

I have sympathy for Bubble, because I can see how the mat laws can be a lot tougher for small businesses.

DT - how far does a person's responsibility to their employer extend? Beyond the employer's responsibility to them? Most people are only required to give a month's notice, or can expect the same. Are people really supposed not to live their lives because of the effect it will have on their employer?

LackaDAISYcal · 19/09/2008 22:18

ikwym drbread. I would've thought that as women we would be sympathetic to the plight of other women when it comes to maternity leave, we've all been there after all and countless women before us have fought hard for those maternity rights.

suey2 · 19/09/2008 22:20

I know that lackadaisical. But she coat me a lot of money. She was a friend and she didn't even tell me she was trying. My point was to the op about not assuming she will be able to work normally throughout her pg. So not like twkng on a short term contract at all.
It is absolutely devastating to a small business to have someone going on mat leave and the unpredictability of their health during pg. Just because it is a legal right doesn't always make it ethically right, if the intention is never to stay. Ill health is another matter: that is what the rules protect.

Reallytired · 19/09/2008 22:22

I don't think that all working women are entitled to a full year. I think you have to have been in your post for at least 6 months before getting pregnant to get that.

I don't understand how my position is different to the OP. I have only been in my job for 13 months before dropping the bomb shell on my boss that I am pregnant.

Anyway the OP might find it takes longer than she expects to concieve.

lou031205 · 19/09/2008 22:23

In fact, I was technically employed up until June 19th, although on unpaid Mat leave. I am due 17th April 2009. To qualify for Maternity Allowance, I would only have to get a job for 3 weeks. To get maximum Maternity Allowance I could work full-time for a month, or part-time for 2. I would still get 9 months Maternity Allowance.

Why would that be seen any differently to someone who puts in lots of overtime around the time that their annual bonus gets calculated? It makes sense.

spudballoo · 19/09/2008 22:23

If your only motivation is to get a job to pay you for a while and then give you maternity pay, then frankly your attitude sucks.

If you want a job for its own sake, and may well return to it after ML then fair dos.

But from your posts it seems that you want the job for the paid leave it provides. That's a poor reflection on you and, as per various previous posts, causes SO MANY problems for other women of childbearing years.

Whether it would be better or worse had you returned to your previous employer is totally irrelevant as you didn't.

I worked with someone who joined as a senior manager, and announced on day 2 that she was 4 months pregnant. Previously she'd been a freelancer, and was very open about the fact that she'd joined the firm for the benefits. She was very poorly throughout her pregnancy and was off more than she was at work. She then took 6 months paid ML.

I have to tell you that not ONE of us had any sympathy for her position and utterly resented her as soon as we knew she was pregnant. Had she been with us a while, then we would have been all sympathy. But we knew she was in it for the money and we resented her.

Bubble99 · 19/09/2008 22:23

mazzy, thanks.

We can only afford to pay SMP.

Some of our (five) employees have moaned about this. We have had to explain that the cost of paying their salaries while on mat leave plus the salaries of the five staff required to cover them, would put us out of business.

lou031205 · 19/09/2008 22:25

But Suey, friend or not, you had no right to that information.

BouncingTurtle · 19/09/2008 22:27

I agree no-one should live their life around an employer and situations can change! But to attend an interview and accept a permanent job that you have no intention of staying in for more than a couple of months is taking the piss...

Reallytired · 19/09/2008 22:30

Maternity allowance is a pitance anyway. I can't really see what the fuss is about. I am sure the the OP will pay it back through her taxes.

I find it sad that women are so hard on each other.

jellybeans · 19/09/2008 22:31

YANBU

Bubble99 · 19/09/2008 22:32

I agree, Bouncing. And it's particularly crap in a business like ours where children need some continuity of care.

suey2 · 19/09/2008 22:32

I know the lou. But she was the first person I employed. Before she told me she was pg I was negotiating a lease on premises and she was well aware that she was due five months after the lease was due to start. If she had said to hold on, I would have understood and not exposed myself hugely and would have saved myself that 25k just in avoiding the increased rental.
As I said, IMO, just because mat rights are legal rights, it doesn't always make them ethically or morally right

suey2 · 19/09/2008 22:36

same for me bubble. All or businessis word of mouth and based on continuity.