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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

17 weeks pregnant just accepted a job

26 replies

naturalbornshopper · 22/08/2006 10:51

went for interview yesterday got offered the job on the spot and accepted. didnt tell them i was pregnant though. today i informed the agency that i am pregnant. have i done the right thing? or should i have told new employer that i was pregnant at interview? hoping they will still accept me, can they still turn me down now ive told them? i didnt want to start the job and month down the line have to tell them i was pregnant.

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Original poster

naturalbornshopper · 22/08/2006 11:02

anyone?

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katzg · 22/08/2006 11:06

there have been a few threads on this, have a look under the employment threads.

sorry cant be more helpful

congratualtions though

morningpaper · 22/08/2006 11:15

congrats

it's tricky

they can't turn you down or else you can sue them

but I would have mentioned it in the interview - just courteous really

geordiemacminx · 22/08/2006 11:19

Not really sure, although ethically speaking you should have told them, there is chance that they might not have offered you the job, and made up some reason that you werent suitable in which case you wouldnt have had a leg to stand on legally. Now they have offered you they job they cannot resind (sp?) the offer. A lot of this depends on the moral ethics of the company. They might have no problem with your pregnancy.. although I dont think you will be entitled to maternity pay other than stat... guess its just a case of waiting and seeing.

SophieB · 22/08/2006 11:31

Hi, i know your new employer carnt get rid of you when they find out your pregnant. I just took my old employer to the industrial tribunal over them sacking me because i was pregnant. You did do the right thing because whe i found out i was pregnant i told my employer striaght away, didnt know that it would cause me to loose my job! Even if you told them a month or 2 months down the line they carnt sack you! If you have any questions just ask me!! Finally my case is finished but it had been going on since febuary!!

SydSnow · 22/08/2006 11:44

I may get flamed for this, but IMHO this sort of behaviour is one of the reasons that many employers hesitate when considering employing a woman of child-baring age.
It costs a lot of money to hire someone, train them up etc
Not a very moral thing to do.
Then again maybe you will only take 3 or 4 weeks off after birth, in which case it shouldn't be a problem for anyone.
I guess sometimes you just have to look after #1 though, and they v likely wouldn't have employed you if they had known.

katzg · 22/08/2006 12:04

Sydsnow - so you are saying that all women of child-bearing age should not be employed! pregnant or not ALL women have the right to a job, what happened to womens rights?

morningpaper · 22/08/2006 12:11

I think this is a tricky one

Although I agree with KatG, I was at a company a few years ago where two women's maternity leave meant that the company lost a lot of money and had to make redundancies - because training up replacements was prohibitively expensive, and recruitments costs were so high

I know that (off the record) they will not employ women again

shocker innit

N1SEXYTING · 22/08/2006 12:47

I'm also in a new job, started last week but have not told them yet. As far as I'm concerned it took them so long to from when I had my interview (May3rd) till now to start the job and it couldn't be helped me falling pregnant before they gave me a start date.

I'm lucky that its a job with the same local authority that I was already working for so I'm entitled to very good maternity benefits.

My advice to you will be to look into their policy on maternity pay and leave. I know that your length of time within an employment has a big impact on the maternity pay you are entitled to Maternity Pay

SophieB · 22/08/2006 13:11

No employer has the right to sack a woman if they find out she is pregnant or if they have offered her a job and then find out she is pregnant, they can be sued for sexual discrimination. I've been there and it isnt pleasent. Im not sure what sort of maturnity pay or benefits you will be entitled to because you have only just started with the company. As for company's losing money over women becoming pregnant, thats tough, they carnt not employ women just because they are at a child bearing age.

bev1e · 22/08/2006 13:16

But surely an employer has the right to withdraw the offer of a job if an employee-to-be has held back that information at interview?

SophieB · 22/08/2006 13:17

Not sure, that might be ordering on sexual discrimation, becase they would nto have a reason for with drawing the offer

motherinferior · 22/08/2006 13:20

It's illegal to fire you on the basis of your pregnancy.

morningpaper · 22/08/2006 13:22

As for company's losing money over women becoming pregnant, thats tough, they carnt not employ women just because they are at a child bearing age.

No they can't OFFICIALLY obviously, but they can unofficially. And they do.

I think it's different if we are talking about large companies, but for smaller companies it can have a massive effect on staff and how the company operates and pretending it doesn't is naive.

morningpaper · 22/08/2006 13:23

MOTHERINFERIOR how the devil are you? When did you get back?

bev1e · 22/08/2006 13:24

But naturalbornshopper isn't "offically" employed yet - she's been made a verbal offer which she verbally accepted. I think she is asking if the offer can be withdrawn in light of the extra info she provided them with.

SophieB · 22/08/2006 13:26

morningpaper i do agree with you, because the company i worked for was small and i was the third woman to become pregnant thats why they sacked me because they couldnt afford it, but all companies regardless how big or small shouldnt do it. it is a really tough subject, it took me 6 months to actually get my case sorted

morningpaper · 22/08/2006 13:28

No that's a tough one SophieB

Last year I was working for a charity with nothing but a 50K grant and lots of part-time employees - THREE got pregnant. I resigned to save them money because they wouldn't have been able to afford to keep me on through mat. leave (and get a replacement, which was essential). But if we had all insisted on our rights - which of COURSE we were entitled to do - the project would have had to close.

SophieB · 22/08/2006 13:31

I'm so glad it's over to be honest, caused me soooo much stress and unhappiness! just feel sorry for other women that have or are going through that sort of thing! Now i can just relax and prepare for the baby!

morningpaper · 22/08/2006 13:32

Yes well done you

and good luck with that baby

SophieB · 22/08/2006 13:33

Thank you!

redz · 22/08/2006 13:49

Depending on the size of the company really depends on your rights. Basically the bigger the company the better. I do know with larger companies if they employ you and you are pregnant you have to work for the company for a certain amount of weeks before you are entitled to maternity pay/leave. Plus you have to give them a certain amount of time notice advsing you are expecting.And also dependant on training etc etc. Sorry I cant give you exact amount of weeks cant remember but of your able to check their maternity rights best thing then you know where you stand.
Good luck though with baby and new job.x

SydSnow · 22/08/2006 16:07

Katzg, I in no way meant that women of child baring age shouldn't have jobs! What I mean is that for many employers there is a perceived risk involved and that this can cause problems for women trying to get a job.
For a smaller business, employing someone who failed to disclose that they are pregant during the interview process can be a huge financial blow and you can bet the employer will be very unhappy, feel cheated and resentful (whether justified or not). These situations then get talked about amongst other business owners and the fear of employing young women grows.
Apart from that I wouldn't want to start in a job where my new employer already resents me!

Original poster

naturalbornshopper · 22/08/2006 16:17

Just to let you know my new employer has got back to me and they dont mind that i am pregnant. they have even offered me a position where i come back 3 days a week after maternity leave. they are a good company who treat staff well and i am so happy.

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geordiemacminx · 22/08/2006 16:20

Really pleased for you, being honest has paid off!! I suppose going back to previous comments... from an employers perspective it is worse if you join a new company and then fall pregnant after a few months as they then have to pay maternity leave, whereas if you join when already pregnant you arent entitled to benefits... anyways was just thought!! 3 day week sounds good to me!! Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday... 5 day 4 day weekend!!!!

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