Maternity discrimination ?

[sunflower1230]

Hi All, I was offered a job last week and was over the moon. The employer who called me text me the next day asking what my notice period was. I replied explaining i thought it was 6m but I am on maternity until January 2026. She didn’t reply for two days and sent an email saying she was disappointed I didn’t mention it and they can not wait until January due to my maternity and therefor withdrawing the job offer. The email was a little snotty tbh. However I’ve been discriminated against before for maternity and to me this is discrimination. Should I not of been on maternity she wouldn’t of revoked the offer..

I have since replied stating they have discriminated against me and to rectify urgently and how upset and disappointed I was about the situation. I now know I do not want to work for them and they haven’t replied to this email. I have informed Acas.

but is this discrimination to anyone else plz?

They didn’t ask; if they rang me or emailed asking for a conversation, I would cut my leave short for the right role!

but regardless why should women have to do that ? They shouldn’t that’s why there are laws. I wouldn’t have been completely cooperative with starting sooner. They just ruled me off for been on maternity and wrote it in an email, their email completely discriminates

It’s the fact you can’t start any time soon.
it’s June! If someone had a 6m notice there is scope for negotiating early release etc. I just wouldn’t have applied because it’s not respectful of the fact they need you to start sooner- it’s like you’ve tried to trap them. Just wait to apply for jobs when you CAN start.

This. Whatever the reason we wouldn’t be able to wait until January in our team if this came up.

We always ask notice period and when someone can start at interview stage. It’s not reasonable to accept a job on the basis of you not starting for another 6 months for any reason at all. They’d have to get a temp or FTC and it would be a huge inconvenience for them.

And if they have a chat with me I would of compromised and started earlier.. the point of the matter is they didn’t do that, they didn’t even ask me what my notice was after I said I ‘thought’ it was 6m they took the offer away because I can’t start for 6m.. I can’t start as I’m on maternity so that’s maternity discrimination, the nhs is making job cuts and my job may be at risk, hence why I applied for a role I wanted

Most jobs in the NHS don’t either. Standard for bands 7 and up is 12 weeks but you’ll often be released earlier if you negotiate. Obvs a lot less for lower bands. And recruitment doesn’t always take that long, especially if you’re moving within the same trust. Took 2 weeks for my last job move. Keeps being bought up by the OP though for some reason.

I didn’t put this up for all of you to argue with me, it’s absolutely mad to me that your all absolutely ok with a woman with children on maternity not been allowed the same as someone else. And having a job offer removed because of those reasons is discrimination. Whilst I get it isn’t convenient I would of started earlier…

Taking maternity leave beyond the statutory period of 2 weeks is a choice. You are choosing not to start earlier

Are you a mum ? Because my children mean more than my job

Would HAVE sorry Op, I know nothing to do with the thread . Maybe the recruiter was appalled at your grammar?

I’m intrigued that you thought you had 6 month notice period when in fact it’s only 2 months that’s quite a difference that you could easily have found out beforehand. I would think they would argue it’s the length of time they would have to wait for you rather than you being on maternity in of itself, they could say that if you were due to return to work earlier from your maternity that they would have offered you the job.

Think you’re really misunderstanding the meaning of discrimination here OP. 6 months is a ridiculously long time to wait, maternity or not you shouldn’t be applying for jobs if you’re not able to actually start in a reasonable timeframe. No idea why they didn’t ask your notice period at the interview stage though, that seems odd unless there is a standard notice period for your role that they would have been aware of and assumed that it applied (in which case again I totally understand why they can’t wait 6 months if standard notice is 2 months).

OP tell me I am right
MN You are wrong
OP No I am not

then don't take the job. Simples

Il come back and prove you all wrong 🤣

Of course they can't wait for six months for you to be ready to start work. You are not in a position to take up this employment I can't see they have done anything wrong. You could start sooner but don't want to.

And on a more serious matter, yes we are mostly mums and still we don’t take the piss. Because we care not only about our own career but also about advancing other women’s careers. Your little tricks lead employers (even the NHS) to prefer male employees. So even if you get a small payout you’ve damaged your and women’s career prospects. Now do buzz off

You could spend the next 6 months brushing up on your spelling and grammar

Now that is wild.

None of you know the full back ground either though, the nhs Icb cuts are extremely stressful. I could have no job to go back to it’s all extremely unknown. So of course I need to start looking for a safer job to come back to. The right job came up and I thought I would go for it, given the nhs recruitment times it would probably take this long anyway so it really wouldn’t of made a difference to when I could start. She even made a joke about how long it takes! The point of it all is they only removed it once I told them about maternity leave.. I was happy to start sooner but they didn’t even speak to me about anything! I feel discriminated against so I’m of course going to take if further. Why would I roll over and accept I’m been pushed aside because I’m in maternity after a baby, that’s a joke

Absolutely correct. It's a complete entitled joke.

The reason jobs give 6 months notice periods is to make it hard for you to leave. Why not just cut your maternity leave short and start. Plenty of people go back to work after a short period.

But then what's the point of this post?

You literally start and end the post asking for other people's opinions on whether this is maternity discrimination...

I'm on your side OP. You should be entitled to apply for any job you like on maternity leave and not be discriminated against. How would you secure work otherwise? The government is very keen to get everybody 'economically active'. I hope you get somewhere with this.

Am all for supporting women who have suffered maternity discrimination but if you weren't totally up front and honest with the interview panel as to when you could start the new job, you could be on dodgy ground. They haven't phased the withdrawal of job offer very well but that's all.....Basically you have been offered a job but been dishonest about your availability - when you did give them relevant information, they withdrew the offer. Your dishonesty is as much of an issue as anything - they only have to prove anyone else who lied on an application form/wasn't honest during interviews would have been treated the same.
Sorry, but I would accept that you made a bad call and move on.......be grateful you still have a job - you have more maternity protection whilst in that job than the one you applied for.

Except they don’t ask during the interview ? And I don’t actually have to disclose I’m on maternity during an interview by law. And everyone who does is less favourable for a job, which is discrimination but hard to provr, I have been discriminated before and been to tribal and won, hence why I’m careful because the world is full of them