Job Offer withdrawn after informing employer that I am pregnant.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 Since then I have had the job offer withdrawn as they felt that I “misled them” and wasn’t honest.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

Maternity Status discrimination is very obviously alive and well to the point that a load of people on this thread think it shouldn't even be considered wrong. I wonder of everyone with this pov would be happy for anyone who is pregnant to receive full benefits as they are clearly unemployable? Because either you think that or you think women should be able to gestate a baby with no nutrition or home to live in. Or maybe pregnant women have a right to employment and the employers providing that opportunity get compensation to defray their additional costs (which is what happens)

Do not engage any further with them until you have sought legal advice. They are on very dodgy ground.

*Morality doesn't put food on the table.

Pregnant women still need to earn money which is why the laws are in place.*

Exactly this. Women have babies, employers need to get over it!

Plus people can start work and then be off sick for months on end just after starting, and indeed never become fit to come back to work. Life happens. Employers have to deal with it in accordance with the law or pay the price.

The number of posters who seem to think that pregnancy discrimination is fine or that the OP should be deterred from pursuing this is totally depressing.

This. Utterly depressing. I hate being a woman sometimes.

I don't disagree with you but the ET is a different beast to the civil courts and the costs risk to Claimants is generally low.

The costs regime in ETs is often considered to be unfair to employers in many instances as poorly founded or spurious claims can be brought with little risk to the Claimant (who often acts in person and thus doesn't incur fees). The employer meanwhile is forced to incur significant legal fees defending the claim.

The introduction of fees with respect to ET claims was brought in to try and reduce the number of spurious claims but the fees were abolished following legal action by the Unions.

I hope your insurer can help OP. If not (and if you can not afford to pay for a solicitor) check with your local CAB to see if any local employment solicitors operate on a pro bono basis. Some will volunteer once a month or so.

Just one final point - if you're waiting to meet someone at the CAB keep an eye on time limits (the ET are strict with respect to time limits).

Omfg! Not only truly shocking and CLEAR discrimination against you as a prospective employer but then they start disclosing deeply personal private information about another employees addiction issues! Yea they haven't specifically named them but it wouldn't be difficult to work out based on the information they DO disclose!

Are they a small business without an HR dept who are utterly clueless on employment law?

"Also what weird emails this person sends. They're not very professional in tone at all." That's what's making me think fly by night small business - they're not even proof reading for small spag errors!

Cathf not seen you in a while! But not at all surprised at your response!

"Ooh, wonder if she had permission to disclose the addiction issues of the recent recruit, or the illness of her colleague's brother!" I know! Complete lack of discretion!

"That response is bonkers. Having an addiction is not a protected characteristic. Stupid idiot." Actually it is as addiction is a mental health issue and mental illness dependent on severity is classed as a disability.

But yea op in terms of working for such a bigoted, indiscreet and unprofessional company - bullet dodged!

However I am unsurprised at the posters who feel safe in saying they wouldn't employ a pregnant woman.

It is very much an employers market at the moment and in recent years employee rights have been decimated in many ways, not least in the denial of legal aid.

"I'm with Cathf and I'm a massive feminist" you're really not! And neither is cathf

"This is clearly a very small company, who can't afford to take someone on to have to have them leave a few weeks later" ANY company who cannot bear the costs of ACTING LEGALLY has no right being in business and hiring employees.

Op I have no advice but I hope you get a satisfactory resolution to this and good luck with the pregnancy and gaining employment.

holy shit i cant believe they emailed you that
take them to the cleaners!!! please on behalf of all us pregnant women - do it!!!

Shocking

If you haven’t yet signed a contract they can withdraw the job offer for any reason, or without even giving a reason. Imo there’s not much you can do.

Can’t do that, it’s against the law.

Just because the OP has just left university doesn’t mean she is automatically very young. What a massive assumption.

Also deeply at the ‘feminists’ posting on here who think a women’s biological functions should make her less employable.

bizzzzy 🤦🏻‍♀️ You are wrong. Please don’t post if you don’t know what you are talking about.

If you haven’t yet signed a contract they can withdraw the job offer for any reason, or without even giving a reason

Wrong.

A company can withdraw a conditional offer if the conditions are not met. As the OP was offered the job with no conditions, it is unconditional, which means they cannot withdraw.

Christ on a bike, this is a specialist board and you still have people who don’t have a flipping clue posting their “advice” on here.

OP, it is a clear case of direct discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy. You need to sue them. You can get legal advice, but to be honest I’m not sure it’s necessary with such a clear cut case. You can apply direct to the employment tribunal service and fill in an ET1.

You need to think about your schedule of loss. What are your actual losses arising from them withdrawing the offer?

"I was offered the job verbally, told what my salary would be upon starting, met the team and given a start date. I was going to be given a formal written offer today but I couldn’t wait that long to tell them and felt guilty about not telling them. I was under absolutely no legal obligation to tell them for at least another 6 weeks. I could have quite easily taken the job, allowed them to train me and then told them when I was legally obliged to in 6 weeks time."

Moral of the story: NEVER disclose pregnancy until you have a confirmed job offer IN WRITING. The law says that you don't have to disclose pregnancy until 25 weeks (IIRC) for a very good reason! You should have waited until after you'd started the job before telling them.

"I have just finished Uni and am desperately trying to find a job to help me put some money away for my child."
All the more reason to take the job rather than risking it by disclosing too soon. It seems they are backtracking now and considering still giving the job in which case you should TAKE IT. Don't throw it away now because you feel offended! Take the job and you'll only have to do it for a few months anyway before maternity leave!

Can anyone link to my similar cases that have got to Court. I’ve no idea but might any compensation or offers be quite low? I understand that the OP should take things further but I’m not sure I could be bothered if it were for a small amount.

The Women and Equalities Committee published a report today called Enforcing the Equality Act: the law and the role of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, arguing that the current approach of relying on individual litigants to enforce equality law is no longer fit for purpose.

I think this thread and the perceived difficulties facing the OP in pursing this is a really good example of the issues the report addresses.

There's a thread on the feminist board about it if anyone is interested (albeit that thread is very much focused on trans issues).

One of my friends got a big enough payout from pregnancy dismissal to pay for her house deposit so definitely worth doing.
Another friend also got a pretty good payment so definitely worth trying.

God. The author of the mail sounds like a woman I used to work for with who didn't believe in hr. We were always a hair's breadth off being sued.

A verbal job offer is legally binding, by the way. She's screwed if it got as far as her offering you terms and you accepting.

My sister got a job as an NHS physio whilst on maternity leave. She just told them that she couldn’t start for 4 months and they were fine with that. Bearing that in mind, your new ‘employer’ are totally in the wrong and you should report them. Although it sounds like you had a lucky escape to be honest.

bizzzzy 🤦🏻‍♀️ You are wrong. Please don’t post if you don’t know what you are talking about.
I was once offered a job verbally and in writing via email. Three weeks later they withdrew it as the owner’s cousin needed a job so they gave him mine and told me they were withdrawing the offer. I saw an employment solicitor but as I didn’t have any signed paperwork there was nothing that could be done legally.

But can't you see why an employer wouldn't want to train someone new up, do all the paperwork etc

Of course a business doesn't want to do this. Similarly they don't want to cover sick leave, or annual leave, spend money making workplaces safe etc. Tough. They are the requirements of an employer and they must do it.

Covering maternity (or paternity) leave is just the cost of doing business in the same way as the other things listed. If they cannot afford to pay for those things, they cannot afford to hire.

And that was totally legal. And a completely different situation to the op who has protected characteristics.

Exactly. A verbal contract is legally binding but virtually impossible to prove in court. A written contract is EVIDENCE.

That’s was to bizzzzy