Job Offer withdrawn after informing employer that I am pregnant.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 Since then I have had the job offer withdrawn as they felt that I “misled them” and wasn’t honest.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.

OP you might find (as you already have on this thread) that some people may discourage you from taking this further because of the stress / effort / possible costs etc.

I was made redundant in very late pregnancy. That in itself was mostly reasonable to the business circumstances, however some of their actions with my role, after my contract was terminated, put them in discrimination territory. By this point I had a tiny newborn and had a few people try to discourage me. However I wanted to pursue it out of principle and also as there was evidence of a financial loss to myself, I had to try and recoup that loss on behalf of my DC. I won't lie, it was quite draining however the ACAS early conciliation (that costs nothing) resulted in a settlement equivalent to just over two months salary. I was so pleased I put in the effort. I do actually have part of me that wishes I didn't settle, to have it tested in ET, but I think I reached my limit to what level of stress I could handle. Plus I knew I probably wouldn't get a significant difference in compensation if found in my favour so it also wasn't risk losing the payment.

Anyway good luck and congratulations on your pregnancy!

They have acted appallingly and clearly have no concept of the law. Take them to court (hopefully they will settle the first time they seek legal advice). Utter idiots.
The reason women explicitly do NOT have to disclose nor can they be asked is that this kind of BS happens all the time. I had it happen to me but sadly they weren’t slightly less blatant. I’m just so happy for you that these plonkers decided to write down their backward and illegal thoughts and email them to you!

For those arguing the toss over the original offer being verbal not written. It's actually irrelevant. Even if there had been no
no offer at all... the first email OP posted is quite clear they are not offering her a job due to her not disclosing her pregnancy. It looks like a clear case of discrimination to me.

As others have said, you were under no legal obligation to disclose your pregnancy and they have no right to ask. They are now accusing you of being deceitful for not disclosing something you didn’t need to disclose. Yes this is tantamount to them admitting to discrimination. They wouldn’t have a leg to stand on at an industrial tribunal. The law is the law and it has been this way for a bloody long time so it’s up to employers to do their due diligence when starting a business and factoring in expenses like maternity leave and cover. No sympathy.

Shocking and stunningly stupid of employer. And depressing responses from some posters who think pregnancy discrimination is acceptable

It doesn’t sound like either of you handled it very well to be honest. I think if you were not going to reveal it before then you should have waited until you had a firm offer in writing before saying.

Personally I would have told them up front and used it as an opportunity to say this was a long term job for me and I was committed to the firm, they would have no costs but just had to wait a bit longer for me, then I could have asked about flexibility etc. I could have then made a decision on whether it was really the right place for me as a working mother.

What would you do if they turned around and made you an offer now, how much do you want the job?

You have no idea the affect that has on small businesses and behaviour like this throws shade on small business people employing women of child beating age

Tough shit. You get a temp in and the government pays statutory maternity leave. If you can't allow for this in a business, you shouldn't be in business.

At the OP's stage of pregnancy, after she started the job there would have been plenty of notice for the employer had she informed them in 6 weeks time when she would legally be obliged to do so. It's basically three months notice. Stuff happens to employees, they are not automatons, and you don't get three months' notice from anyone before they go off on long term illness, or their child gets seriously ill, or they have a serious accident, or one of a myriad other things that could happen. With pregnancy you actually get plenty of notice (3 months being the bare minimum) to sort things out and it is surely therefore one of the easier long term absences to deal with!

The OP has dodged a bullet with this employer, and I hope they get their arses handed to them.

You have no idea the affect that has on small businesses and behaviour like this throws shade on small business people employing women of child beating age

If a business's finances are such that it is unable to operate within the law, then it is not a viable business.

As someone married to a small business owner I think the majority here have their heads in the clouds

There's very little more embarrassing than people that grandstand with an opinion gleaned from their husband's job. Especially when it's a bin fire of an opinion. Excruciating.

Absolutely shocking!

This is unlawful. I interviewed for a job at 8 mths pregnant for an internal promotion and they didn't ask and I couldn't tell. Its in our internal hr process that it isn't appropriate and there are very strict management guidelines stating you are not to do just this.
This is actionable and yes it will be stressful but the extra money from a new job would have been useful and they shouldn't do this. Seek advice and file a claim. They may well settle.
My hr department would have kittens if anyone had done something that stupid in writing!!!

Also...just gonna say this one more time.

SHE NEEDED TO SPEAK TO HER COLLEAGUE (who is out of the office because his brother is unwell) NOT HER BROTHER! THIS IS NOT EVIDENCE THAT ITS A TINY FAMILY RUN COMPANY. People seem to have misread this part and ran with assumptions!

There's very little more embarrassing than people that grandstand with an opinion gleaned from their husband's job. Especially when it's a bin fire of an opinion.

This is one of my favourite ever comments on Mumsnet.

There's very little more embarrassing than people that grandstand with an opinion gleaned from their husband's job. Especially when it's a bin fire of an opinion.

I love mumsnet. I agree with leghair

Wow. This is awful. I can’t believe how stupid these people are. Breaking the law so obviously and giving you evidence that they’ve done so. Sorry this has happened op.

Fuck them.

You wouldn't want to work for that company anyway if that's the way they talk to people!

If you were verbally offered the job, with no mention of having to check with anyone else, then a tribunal is likely to see the guff about having to check, as a lie to cover the discrimination. It's fairly standard behaviour (am an employment solicitor).

Make a detailed note of the history- the application, interview, exactly what was said about the offer, your revealing your pregnancy etc. Make sure you have all documents and correspondence and check if you have legal expenses cover, usually as part of household contents insurance. You don't need representation, but it helps.

You need to start early conciliation with ACAS for pregnancy discrimination within 3 months less 1 day from the date you were told you were not getting the job. The ACAS website tells you how to do this. Also, keep looking for jobs and keep a record of you efforts.

What are your plans today Op I’m glad you’re not going to meet them as that would not get favourable results.

In terms of those querying the extent of financial losses incurred (outside the injury to feelings element), one of the things a tribunal would take into account is the likelihood the claimant’s will be able to mitigate those losses themselves, ie how easy it would be for her to get another job.

You can imagine that they would realise that the OP getting another job at this stage in pregnancy is impaired (not least because of the attitudes displayed on this thread), therefore I would expect that to be taken into account when working out losses.

I think the employer has behaved badly - and stupidly. But I don’t think you’ve been entirely straight either - you should have waited till you had to tell them or told them at interview, telling them just after interview and before you’ve signed contract was daft, as an employer it would have made me question your judgement.

I ran helped run a small family business for 10 yrs. like many family companies it had low margins, we worked all hours and our staff were by far our biggest cost. We twice had this situation with pregnancies and you simply must deal with them legally and ideally with a bit of kindness. Like the vast majority of small businesses SMP (plus some) can be claimed back from the government. Additional recruitment costs are a pain but that could happen for a whole host of reasons. This “head in the clouds” concept is just an excuse to mistreat people. We have a fair system. Those who choose not to abide by it deserve to be held to account.

I agree with AnotherEmma if the goal is to earn money before the baby and they're now offering you the job, then take it. A claim will surely take ages to come to anything and will distract you from the goal of earning money.

I still believe that pursuing a discrimination claim is a good idea OP even if on a moral basis as this should not be allowed to happen to other women.

However, what PP’s have said about time energy and money is probably true. I would maybe call a law firm who specialise in this (usually the first bit of advice is free) see if you can guage whether you have a strong claim.

IF you decide not to pursue and want to push forward with the job (if you don’t you’re the only one who will lose out) I certainly wouldn’t be pandering to them. I would go in with a response along the lines of.

• As no secondary meeting was planned following the verbal job offer I received at the interview, I can see no reason for us meet further and the contents of these emails have made me rather uncomfortable. I find it unprofessional to share personal details of other staff members with me, or compare my pregnancy to a drug addiction.

The only changing factor is that I’ve made you aware of my pregnancy. If you choose to retract your job offer based on me not informing you during the interview process, that is in itself discrimination.
Your opinions on ‘honesty’ bare little legal consequence regarding protected charicteristics and I will have no choice but to pursue the matter.

However, if nothing has changed in light of my pregnancy then I will begin my post as discussed with you at the conclusion of my interview. However, I will be raising this issue with the relevant HR department to ensure I am treated both respectfully and lawfully moving forward.’

Any small business that can’t cope with staff absence isn’t a viable business, it’s that simple.

And maternity leave is so much easier to deal with than something like long-term/recurring sickness absence! Statutory maternity pay is reimbursed by the government, sick pay is not. Maternity leave is known about in advance, sickness absence is not. Maternity leave is for a known period (or at least requires notice to change that length), sickness is not.

Much easier to cover for, and pay for, maternity leave than sickness absence, and IME more likely to result in retaining a good member of staff as well.