Job Offer withdrawn after informing employer that I am pregnant.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 Since then I have had the job offer withdrawn as they felt that I “misled them” and wasn’t honest.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

I have lurked on this thread for ages. I'm so impressed with your resolve.

Good luck, will be interested to hear how you got on.

The company were happy to screw her over. That's the choice they made.

Good luck OP

Good luck op!

@ivfgottostaypositive what so we should all sit quietly and allow our rights to get trampled into the dust in case it results in yet more discrimination?? That's bonkers!

@ivfgottostaypositive if that's the case then women have had a lucky escape. I wouldn't want to work for an employer like this and I've never been ptegnant

She will have done more damage than good with this - you realise this company will NEVER employ a woman of child bearing age again

Yes, that may happen. We know that around one third of managers in small- to medium-sized businesses avoid employing women they think might have children, nearly one third of senior decision makers think it is acceptable to ask women about their plans regarding children at the recruitment stage and nearly 60% think a woman must disclose if she is already pregnant when applying for a job.

If everyone takes your approach this will never change. It needs people like the OP to stand up for their rights and make it clear to businesses that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable. If enough people do so these attitudes will eventually be driven out.

@Summersunandoranges the law says women do not have to inform their employer until 15 weeks before the due date. As for the rest of your comments, are you saying that employers should be able to reject women due to pregnancy? Some women lose their jobs in early pregnancy and need to work and earn money for another 6 months or so. And many come back after maternity leave for many years. Women still have enough discrimination to deal with without people like you spouting this nonsense.

you realise this company will NEVER employ a woman of child bearing age again

Then they’ve screwed themselves over. I’m 31 and good at my job. However does my age mean that no one should hire me for what I could do? That’s insanity. Good luck today OP.

I agree with @prh47bridge. Lots of employers who do individual recruitment to a role (ie not large campaigns) routinely discriminate and if the applicant is female avoid employing them unless into their 40s and the risk of pregnancy is lower....especially in roles like PA etc. Was only discussing it with friends earlier this year and it is a very open secret.

The Ops situation is interesting as the company were pretty open as to what they did. So either they are somewhat ignorant/stupid or just accept the risk and make a payment if forced as they see it as lower cost than not having the employee there for a year.

The other extreme, a former colleague was moaning to me as someone his company employed had been made redundant. She took them to ET and they actually realised (as managers had changed) that she had spent 7 out of the last 10 years on maternity leave or maternity related sickness. They had over time built the department budget to cope without her being there so made her redundant as effectively there wasn't a role!

Summersunandoranges

If she was the best person for the job she should have been recruited. Withdrawing an offer based on pregnancy is illegal. It is a protected characteristic

Whether it’s legal or not it’s still unfair. I’m betting this is a small outfit going off the reply’s back from the directors as it it was a big company HR would have sent out less personal correspondence.

The best person for the job would have been some one upfront in the interview and some one who was going to be there to do the job intended. This lady could have took the job and with in a couple of months gone on ML leaving them shorts staffed and starting the whole process of interviewing and training.

This shouldn’t be seen as women fighting back against the machine. This just encourages employers to be wary about even interviewing women.

If she’d been there six months I get it - but this just seems sly. I really hope if this is a small out fit they don’t go bankrupt and people lose their jobs as this is a stressful time regarding employment as it is.

Then perhaps they should guard against going bankrupt by not discriminating illegally

you realise this company will NEVER employ a woman of child bearing age again

Then they’ve screwed themselves over

No they really haven’t. Plenty of men will just be as good.

You do realise this already happens? It’s only through women putting the hours in a riding to management women have only just started to get a foot in the door. A case like this only sets us back

It is the law on this country that women can take maternity leave, it is the law that employers have to allow this, it is against the law to discriminate against pregnant women.

Big outfit, small business whatever, if they can't afford to comply with the law then maybe their business model isn't working and maybe they shouldn't be trading. If you decide to run a business in this country you must adhere to the law. It's the same as companies trying to get away with paying people less than minimum wage then saying they can't afford to; it's irrelevant.

But recruiting anyone is a risk. They could leave after a few weeks regardless.

A case like this only sets us back

Totally agree, I much prefer to be treated as my husbands possession, allow him to beat me with a stick no thicker than his thumb and keep the cave clean and tidy for him for when he returns from a days hunger gathering. So of course I can’t also work and don’t need any rights.

Just because certain women feel they found a way to function within the patriarchy doesn’t mean we shouldn’t dismantle it.
Behaviour that is illegal should not go unchallenged and to suggest it because it will “hurt women in the long run” is just crazy. It’s disappointing this thinking still exists

I’m not against women taking ML. I’m not against women taking employers to court if they’ve been treated badly. But this women wasn’t going transparent in her interview before she was taken on.

She’s not worked a single day there. It’s unfair regardless if its legal to take them to the cleaners.

Cutting your nose off to spite your face here regarding all women seeking employment especially in men dominated sectors

Read this thread at the start and I was so angry for you. I've just caught up and rtft and I'm so pleased you've taken them on.

Wishing you all the luck this morning!

But legally she did not have to tell them at all for a few weeks. She's certainly didn't have to tell them during the recruitment process. This is information that employers are not allowed to ask and and not allowed to take into consideration during the recruitment process so her not telling them early on is immaterial. And look what they did do with the information when they did have it, they used it to discriminate which is precisely why employers are not allowed to ask this info during recruitment.

Good luck! I've only just stumbled across this thread but just wanted to say well done for seeing this through. Whatever the outcome, it's so important for women that companies are called out on this sort of thing. I really hope it goes well for you 🤞🏻

But this women wasn’t going transparent in her interview before she was taken on she didn’t have to disclose the information and no one asked her if she was pregnant (because that’s illegal). If it has no baring on them hiring her why disclose it? There’s plenty of things regarding my body I don’t tell my employer.

Good Luck thinking of you and sending positive thoughts.

I've just read this whole thread and wanted to say I hope your virtual hearing is going well OP!!

Do people really not realise that

• recruitment costs are a standard part of doing business
• employers can claim back the cost of mat leave
• it isn’t ‘unfair’, if you don’t like it don’t start a business and employ people