Job Offer withdrawn after informing employer that I am pregnant.

[Char1997]

Hi all,

I originally posted this on as a pregnancy thread. As the situation has evolved I have been advised to post on here. I was offered a job yesterday afternoon and although I know I was under no obligation to inform them, I told the employer that I was expecting in December. Since then I have had the job offer withdrawn as they felt that I “misled them” and wasn’t honest. Is anyone able to give me some advice if I were to take this further.

Presumably then sunshine your DH only ever employs post menopausal women - given that maternity, paternity and shared parental leave rights would impact on all women of childbearing age and all men (obviously subject to qualifying criteria) - he obviously wouldn't want to take any chances..

I know two small business owners who refuse to employ women of childbearing age. It’s bullshit but I don’t think too unusual. They just can’t cover the cost

I know two small business owners who refuse to employ women of childbearing age. It’s bullshit but I don’t think too unusual. They just can’t cover the cost

Do they know they could employ a man who could take the best part of a year’s shared parental leave?

Or a person of any sex who could get sick and be off for an indefinite period, and be entitled to SSP (which can’t be claimed back from the government) for 28 weeks?

Op not maternity related but I know someone who accepted a job, resigned from their old job and was then told a couple of weeks before starting that actually, sorry but we can’t employ you, we don’t need you any more. Byeee.

She pointed out that as she had resigned her job and thus no longer had a job, they needed to pay her contractually agreed notice period. They thought she was having a laugh and said no way. Luckily for her she was a lawyer and pointed out that she was deadly serious and ended up with her notice period paid. Can’t remember if she got more besides.

But that’s a long winded way to say that if you are claiming damages then include that first notice period - it’s certainly reasonable to expect it given that you had met team mates and had a start date.

Just out of interest it would be interesting to know how many other people there have been discarded in that time between an offer being made, meeting the team and agreeing a start date and a written contract being signed - does anyone ever start without it being signed.

Or indeed, the number of times start dates and/or meeting the team takes place without an actual job offer - written or verbal.

Good luck!

My god, I hope you keep us updated OP- this is madness!

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitzg
Losses to the OP off the top of my head:-
Lost opportunity to seek work due to stopping searching for a job based on the offer.
Lost time in the lead up to the time she will need to take leave in order to undertake training and gain experience in a new role as she will now need to start at the beginning.
Possible loss of income from a job she may have resigned from based on the offer.
Loss of any sort of benefit she may have stopped / become ineligible for based on job offer

I’m not suggesting the OP hasn’t suffered any financial loss but she did only have the verbal offer in hand for a matter of hours? Won’t she have to have actual evidence as to what loss she has suffered? I can’t see how any of the possible types of financial loss suggested by
BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitzg would apply to the OPs case. She got the offer in the afternoon then phoned to tell them about the pregnancy later when she got home afterwards. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The OP has said she is ‘very upset’ about being discriminated against but I don’t know what that would mean for compensation for hurt or distress.

My point was that I’m not sure if I was the OP that I could be bothered to make a claim for what might not amount much,

Obviously sunshine thinks that you have to check with your current employer before getting pregnant. Perhaps sunshine, the wife of a businessman could suggest how the OP should support her child, I am sure that they are full of great ideas.

Sorry for the typos in my post

Prepared to be absolutely flamed here...and out of the professional workplace for some considerable time due to caring responsibilities and therefore completely out of the loop with legislation etc (worked in the City for 25 odd years)...but surely if you are applying for a job, you'd mention pregnancy if that meant you'd be off on maternity leave and unable to do your job a few months ahead and the company having to prepare for that? Am I completely wrong here? It doesn't seem reasonable to me to be able to do that.

This also reminds me of a situation where my brother employed somebody (small independent business) who announced she was pregnant a few weeks later. It turned out she worked for her father and he didn't want the hassle and cost of her being a pregnant employee so she found another job in the interim (in an agreement with her father) and my brother had to stump up the costs of all of it. She then left to return to work for her father. To be fair, things may have moved on but as I said I have been out of the professional workplace for some considerable time. It seems to me to be unreasonable to apply for a job knowing you're going to be out of it for a year at least a few short months down the line.

But it wasn't just a job offer - the OP accepted. Provided there were no conditions to the offer (eg passing a background check) and the terms were clear, this is enough to have creating a binding contract of employment.

So the OP has effectively been sacked because of her pregnancy and could claim accordingly (if she has the evidence).

As an employer, you are entitled to reclaim 92% of employers' Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and up to 103% if your business is eligible for Small Employers' Relief. You are entitled to this if you have paid less than £45,000 in Class 1 National Insurance contributions

They sound like a small company, so might even have been entitiled to 103%, not sure what the deal was in the past to leave them so out of pocket. Yes there would be costs associated with finding someone for mat leave, but this would be the case now or in a few years time.

surely if you are applying for a job, you'd mention pregnancy if that meant you'd be off on maternity leave and unable to do your job a few months ahead and the company having to prepare for that? Am I completely wrong here? It doesn't seem reasonable to me to be able to do that.

Because mentioning it when you apply doesn’t just give a company time to ‘prepare’, it also prevents them from considering you as a candidate on your ability alone. Not to hire the best applicant because they are pregnant is illegal. The OP told her new employer pretty quickly after being offered the job, which offers plenty of preparation time. She’s not due for five months.

Your brother was very unlucky. The huge majority of pregnant women don’t behave like that. In fact, it seems that the one he hired was being treated very badly and illegally by her own father.

Keep them talking and admitting to everything on email . Get a good trail in writing .

God they sound so stupid it’s unbelievable.

Then take all the evidence and take legal action .

but surely if you are applying for a job, you'd mention pregnancy if that meant you'd be off on maternity leave and unable to do your job a few months ahead and the company having to prepare for that? Am I completely wrong here? It doesn't seem reasonable to me to be able to do that.

Yes, you are completely wrong I'm afraid.

Job applicants do not have a legal duty to disclose that they are pregnant. That includes if they are applying for a fixed term contract or a maternity cover role.

I'm sorry that you think preventing employers discriminating against pregnant women is unreasonable. Fortunately that has no impact on the law

The lovely lady comment alone deserves the full weight of the law thrown at them

@Doubleraspberry Thank you for clarifying...as I said I am massively out of the loop with this. I am prepared to be educated! When I announced to my City employer that I was pregnant, well the world exploded! Very different times it seems. My brother was massively screwed over, I really felt for him as he's such a decent chap and runs a tight ship. He swallowed it but was very angry. I agree with you re : the employer father. I am hoping to return to the workplace therefore I need to educate myself on how things are now.

@Cohle...no I didn't think that at all...I have just been out of the loop for some considerable time. I have been shown by another poster how things are. I can't tell you how much it's changed. As I said in my post, I don't know and am prepared to be educated! I was basing my post on my own experiences which, on reflection, were exceptionally negative in terms of pregnancy.

I'm glad you're taking this further OP, good luck x

Good luck coming bald to the workplace, MrsC. I do hope you feel it’s changed for the better. Sadly some women do still experience very negative reactions to pregnancy which is why the legal protection we now have is so important. As your brother and his former employee found, people still manage to get around those legal obligations, and the more they get pulled up on that, the better for everyone.

Coming back! Hopefully you’re not too bald.

I wonder whether guys would be made to feel bad about not disclosing their partner’s pregnancy... or had a job offer withdrawn because of this. They may want to do an unusual shared parental leave split

OP this thread is shocking. The treatment you have received and also some of the responses. I think MN loses a lot when infighting starts on a thread like this sadly. It's a shame there's no way to sideline the unhelpful bits.

Anyway, i just wanted to post to give you a bit of hope; we employed a woman who was more pregnant than you are. She started absolutely terrified about telling us which was heartbreaking to see, no one should be made to feel bad about having their baby. Of course staff congratulated her, got her a card signed by everyone to illustrate they meant it and organised flowers and baby gifts when she had her child just like they do for every employee having a baby. She worked with us until mat leave, took a year off and came back. She's fantastic, a massive asset to us and we're lucky to have her. Not every employer is an arsehole. Hopefully you will be settled in a new role soon.

Best of luck if you decide to peruse this with arse company

@Doubleraspberry I retain my hirsuit-ness! I am honestly not in a position to pursue my previous career and it was hugely male dominated anyway...professional services within construction...but I am really glad to see/hear that things have changed. Even a few short years ago I suffered massive discrimination, I didn't realise at the time. I guess that is where I am naive in this situation. I am glad to be educated and even though I am midlife and have no intention of child rearing again, I appreciate knowing that things are much much different than they were for me...ie : "nobody really needs a scan, can you organise that in your own time"...!

This was posted much earlier on in the thread but it is such an excellent explanation I feel it needs highlighting again. It explains why it's best for both employer and applicant to not have pregancy disclosed before a job offer.

If they are not allowed to take it into account, what is the benefit in telling them? No one who argues in favour of honesty is able to explain this on these threads. All the OP would have been doing would have been burdening them with a 'big' piece of information they would not be allowed to do anything with. It's better for both the employer and the employee for the recruiting manager to be given the opportunity to make a decision about candidates without that information looming over them. That way everyone knows there was no discrimination.