Got the job without telling employer I am pregnant

[Emma70459]

Hi ladies!
So I'm looking for advice desperately.
I'm currently 37 weeks pregnant and 3 weeks ago,I had an interview for a zero hour contract admin job. They asked if I was able to start work full time immediately and I said "I am able to work full time for now".
They couldn't see that i was heavily pregnant as the interview was done online.
I wasnt expecting to get the job,so naturally I was thrilled when I found out that I got it.
Now my line manager is asking if I am available to work next week but I will be on maternity leave from next week.
How do I tell her that as much as i would love to start working for her i cant otherwise i would lose all my SMP? But i would definitely want to start working as soon as my maternity finishes.

If I were your DH, I'd be assisting you with your own facepalm at this point.

@Frieswithanythin

Sorry but I think your being rather sneaky and misleading here. How are you going to do a full time admin job with a newborn? Why apply in the first place? So many people out there would be glad of this job under the current circumstances.

Sneaky and misleading? Yes. Legal? Also yes. Inconvenient to the business concerned yes.

Does the business have a leg to stand on? No (to my knowledge but happy to be corrected!)

Not entirely sure of the legalities, but this is wrong, morally. Unfortunately, when one woman chooses to act as you have, it gives some employers an excuse for not hiring all women of childbearing age.

How do you know she's got a 2 yo and a 1yo already?

I think you should have explained when they asked if you can start immediately

@Miip

How do you know she's got a 2 yo and a 1yo already?

I think you should have explained when they asked if you can start immediately

Previous posting history

For the love of god I applied for this position in march.
How was I supposed to know I would only get the job now?!
I don't have a dammed DH

Yes, you applied for the job in March, but you still accepted the interview and subsequent job offer. You had plenty of opportunities to tell them about your pregnancy.

What do you expect them to do?

You would also be liable to pay back any maternity leave your current employer paid if you don’t go back there once your maternity leave ends.
No employer would want you to come and work for a week to then go on maternity; you’ve just wasted time accepting the interview and hopefully haven’t stopped someone else getting a job they could actually do.

You applied for it in march, no issue.

But when you got offered an interview you must have been able to work out it was too late for yoi to start work and should have been honest.

If you've now let them know that your due date and that you'd like to be offered work from when you return from mat leave, that sounds fair enough.

It's a zero hours job, it's not massively inconvenienced anyone.

It’s things like this that hold all women back in the workplace.
Now this employer will think twice about hiring women of ‘childbearing age’ again.

OP has said that she'll get SMP from her current employer.

There is never any requirement to pay SMP back, so that's a non issue.

You have said it is a zero hours role and then said it is a bank position, which is it? You are either a bank worker or a zero hours employee - they have different legal status

@savethewales

You would also be liable to pay back any maternity leave your current employer paid if you don’t go back there once your maternity leave ends. No employer would want you to come and work for a week to then go on maternity; you’ve just wasted time accepting the interview and hopefully haven’t stopped someone else getting a job they could actually do.

Not correct.

@christinarossetti19

OP has said that she'll get SMP from her current employer.

There is never any requirement to pay SMP back, so that's a non issue.

There is a requirement to pay maternity leave back if the company have paid any kind of enhanced policy. Many employers state you have to return for x amount of months or have to pay it back.

I had a baby in late January. If I heard in December that I had a job interview - I would obviously tell them first thing as they would see a massive bump ready to pop. But if - because covid - I could only do an online interview - let me think - would I still tell them that I was about to give birth next month?

Let me think.

fuck YES.

Smp is not the same as enhanced

CandyLeBonBon
Go and boil your head with all your legal crap! But yes she has been misleading, how else would you put it? Plenty people would have applied for this position. She going on maternity leave, give someone else a bloody chance of the job especially when there is no chance she was in the position to take it anywhere.

It's a bank position but they stressed that it was zero hours, that they will not be obliged to give me work unless if they had any work available. So I could be working full time one week, and getting nothing the next week

I think this is one of those cases where PP need to take a look at the posting history.

You applied in March but you only had the interview 3 weeks ago so you can’t really say you didn’t know what was going to happen if you got the job?

@CandyLeBonBon

Smp is not the same as enhanced

I didn’t say it was. But she would need to check what she’s getting from her current employer before she goes applying for other jobs during maternity leave.

For the love of god I applied for this position in march. How was I supposed to know I would only get the job now?! I don't have a dammed DH

You went for a job interview at 34 weeks pregnant. That's a BIG clue as to when the job would start. And even if you never had a clue as to when the job would start, going by the interview date, it was always going to start during your last trimester of pregnancy. Any later than that, then what was the plan to be?

This thread isnt about my entitlement to SMP. Its about how I break my pregnancy news to my employer who I havent started working for

@savethewales agreed. Just making sure we weren't giving out incorrect information