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?

Poor employers. They cannot win and as a result, women can't either.

You're a bridge-burner, aren't you, OP? Some advice from an old hand: don't take umbrage so quickly, don't respond impulsively, know your shit (and I include your own key dates and your spelling and grammar too otherwise I could have - not 'of' - said "know you're shit"...) and grow up. You'll get a bad name for yourself really quickly with this attitude.

Best of luck with your next steps but from what you've said, this is going precisely nowhere (IAAL). Don't take up their precious time and resources dealing with you. Please.

The op is talking shit though. Read the posts and you’ll see that it is ridiculous.

ultimately, she lied to them in her interview because ‘she thought it was a 6m notice period’ that conveniently lines up with the end of her maternity 🤔

she is making false claims about the reason she didn’t get the job, they probably didn’t even offer it to her tbh. But even if they did, she lied to them IN THE INTERVIEW so hasn’t got a leg to stand on. (Or any scruples by the sounds of it)

@Borededikr - the whole thing is nonsense.
‘i have a 6 months notice period’ …… ‘oopsie, I just happened to tell you the amount of time I want off work’

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
But they don't owe you a chat, by law or morally. It's a newt point.

The question is whether they discriminated against you because you're on maternity leave or not because the issue is not your maternity but the fact that they needed someone to start sooner for reasonable reasons.

I think the case could go either way. You are legally untitled to be on maternity without being discriminated. They are untitled to employ someone sooner if it is critical to the delivery of essential services.

Ultimately, I think your attitude is very entitled but by law, you might be right. I don't agree that in the instance of redundancies, someone who happens to be on maternity leave is guaranteed the job even if they are totally shit at it, whilst someone who has shown totally commitment to the job automatically gets dismissed because the other one has to have the jib. I can't see more of a case of indirect discrimination against men, older women, those who don't want ot cant have children, but hey ho, it's the law.

"newt point" yes I know they are lizards

NHS consultant notice is 3 months

I don't think OP is coming back as she hasn't got what she wanted from this thread... She thought we'd all be cheering her on and telling her she deserves a massive payout. Instead the majority are calling bs and – imo rightly – telling her she's taking the piss.

In her OP she asks "but is this discrimination to anyone else plz?" and then when told it isn't multiple times responds childishly and insists she will "come back and prove us wrong". If she's so certain it's discrimination then why even bother posting.

I just hope she doesn't waste any more of of the NHS's time or money.

Standard NHS notice periods up to band 5 is typically 4 weeks, 6-7 is 10 weeks and 8-9 is 3 months. Even 2 months notice is pretty unusual. Only Chief exec, other executive and board roles are 6 months notice. Not a cat in hells chance anyone would think they had to give 6 months notice if they aren’t in an exec role . It was just a convenient lie to try and stretch it out. Quite likely being caught out lying will have cost the job, just as much as the length of time before wanting to take up the position.

It is not maternity which is the issue but op lack of availability until January. Same as someone on 6 months’ notice might be overlooked.

As someone who was discriminated against on mat leave and endured a two year tribunal process that had wider consequences this makes me feel a bit sick.

I lost a job I’d had for four years that was perfect in every way and was properly constructively dismissed for insisting on the bare minimum.

By your qualification you could have applied for this job in the Labour ward and then had a ‘haha!’ moment when stating you are not back from maternity for a year. You’re very entitled. This money you seek to steal is from all of us which is why we aren’t congratulating you.

You also undermine those of us who suffer real world consequences for discrimination. You lost an hour of your life and suffered a very foreseeable disappointment. You should be ashamed of yourself.

OP MN is full of people who don’t think employees should have any rights, don’t understand employee rights and think that it’s ok to discriminate against people if it guest work for the business. So this isn’t a great place to come for balanced and correct advice on this topic.

Good that you’ve spoken to ACAS

I would now speak to:

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/support-services-2/

Best of luck

Why did you put it up then? You are very convinced that you have a case and are refusing to acknowledge anyone else’s point of view.
You are coming across as very entitled.

You've said you don't want to work for them now. They've said they don't want to wait.

What are you hoping to achieve?

It's not common to have a 6 month notice period.. and you justifying this is a stretch.

It's frustrating and shitty for you but I can completely understand why 6 months is too long to wait.

'It's NHS' - what difference does that make? Clumsy wording that hurt your feelings. They haven't said they don't want you because you are on maternity they've said they don't want to wait until January 2026.

Let's sue the already financially burdened NHS.

Good luck securing the next role that comes up with the NHS

Yabu.

It's just a shame, that's all. A shame.

And this thread has had a number of lawyers explain to the OP why, based on the information she has provided, she does not have a case.

I have some sympathy - i was fired while pregnant (ET, won, but stressful and still out of a job)

but you aren't helping yourself and anyone else in your position. It's a high level position? how come you were woefully under informed about your own notice period?

And surely, you can end maternity leave early if you really want the job?

Agree they have shot themselves in the foot by being honest though. They should have said "nope we need someone on 1st Aug/Sep and left it at that.

Because you cannot start in the role for 6 months.

Sure you may have a case, but I think its pretty off to apply for a job that you can't start in a reasonable time.

You could cut short your mat leave?

@sunflower1230 did you get any response from the department since your last email?