Advice on Job/Promotion now pregnant

[Onlymydogunderstandsme]

Hoping someone might be able to help, sorry in advance for long post! I applied for a managers position a few months ago and although I didn't get the job (a colleague did) I was told that they liked what I had suggested for the business and wanted to offer me a promotion and pay rise supporting my colleague in his promotion. I was told at the time they needed to work the details of that out and it wouldn't come in to play until January when my colleague steps into his new role. Someone has been hired who is replacing the promoted colleague and also taking over some of my duties because I was due this promotion so wouldn't be able to carry on with all of my existing duties. I am 14 weeks pregnant and everyone at work knows, it's a small business and family friends own the business.

I have my anual appraisal tomorrow, have just handed my form in and said that it was hard for me to fill out as wasn't sure what my role was going to be. I was met with a "well your promotion is something we need to discuss under the circumstances". Do I have any rights with this as nothing has been put in writing but I feel it's unfair for them to take the promotion away from me just because i'm pg, I have 6 months beofre baby arrives and planning to work as close to due date as poss. Also I am intending to return to work (although probably part time).

Any advice would be appreciated and thank you for reading such a long post!

Not sure I can offer any advice but it does seem really unfair. I have been in a similar position where I was given less responsibility after agreeing to a new role as it would be "easier for me"!

Are you in a union? If not ACAS may be able to help or p'raps re post in legal?

Good luck

This does sound potentially discriminatory - discrimination at work because you are pregnant includes the following: "if your employer demotes or dismisses you, or stops you from having training or promotion opportunities, because you are pregnant or on maternity leave"

www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_money/employment/discrimination_at_work_because_of_pregnancy_or_maternity_leave.htm

The advice of what to do is pasted below:

What can you do about pregnancy and maternity discrimination?
If you are experiencing pregnancy and maternity discrimination, take action as quickly as possible.
-tell your manager what is happening. Put it in writing and keep a copy. Your employer is required by law to protect you from pregnancy and maternity discrimination. If it is your manager who is discriminating against you, tell someone higher up in the organisation
-talk to your personnel department or trade union. They might be able to help you stop the discrimination
-get advice. A Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to help or refer you to a specialist
-collect evidence. This could include keeping a diary or record of the time, date and location of any incidents, what was said or done, who was involved, if there were any witnesses and evidence of any similar incidents against other colleagues.
You may find it helps to have the support of a colleague or trade union representative when you take some of this action.

Finally, you could post on www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues which is devoted to employment issues. Someone may have advice about how to handle the meeting/appraisal tomorrow.

Good luck.

You are entitled by law to exactly the same benefits and conditions of service as a woman who is not pregnant, so to deny you a promotion that was previously agreed on the ground that you are pregnant could be discriminatory.

Give ACAS a call, I've found them useful before. And make sure you keep a written record of everything that has gone on before and that is happening now just in case you need it.

Good luck x

That sounds dodgy to me. If you have any emails or other written documents that talk about the promotion, keep them somewhere safe! (my work deletes emails after a few months - you don't want to risk losing evidence!)

There's an organisation called Maternity Action that offers employment rights advice for pregnancy (and benefits too) - they have leaflets and an advice line.
www.maternityaction.org.uk/

meant to also add that I think there is an employment board that might be able to offer better/more detailed advice than us!

Hopefully you can sort this out without resorting to outside orgs. I think you need to be very upfront about what you expect/want, maybe they think you would prefer to concentrate on other things. Make it very clear you don't expect your 'circumstances' to be taken into account and you will have a strong case if they do discriminate.

I would agree with BaaBaaHumbug. Make your expectations clear and your commitment to your work despite your pregnancy. How long are you planning to be on maternity leave? It would be unfair of them to discriminate against you, but if they're in need of someone to be there to actually do the job, then you going on maternity for a long time may not be helpful for the company, especially if it is a small one. Also, regarding you going back part time, by law they need to take your request into consideration, but they don't have to take you back part time if they feel they would need you full time.

Apart from the law, my personal thought is that you should be cautious, because you may find that your priorities change once you have a child and a promotion may not be as important to you as getting home to spend time with your family... Or perhaps it won't change anything for you - I can only speak from my experience!