Remarks at work - pregnancy

[mamabeeboo]

I started with my employer when I was 11 weeks pregnant. I'm WFH so there's no way of them really knowing.

Pregnancy is all going well, I'm due to be 20 weeks pregnant next week and would like to tell my manager.

My manager is great from a work perspective, but I have come to realise, she is proud to be childfree and sees children as a burden. I think her personal opinions about children rub off on how she phrases things at work. A colleague said she felt obliged to come back to work when her baby was only 4 months old because she was told she had left the company "in the lurch" and "who's going to do these projects when you're away". A few other comments here and there.

Because of this, I'm very nervous about telling my manager, especially considering I have just started. I know she will think "had I have known you were pregnant, I wouldn't have hired you". She wouldn't say it but I want to prepare myself for some diggy remarks.

What to say if I get a
"oh great, you're leaving us in the lurch"
"but you were just getting started"
" we have to do our meeting all over again now knowing you're not here"
etc etc etc...

Thank you!

Your manager is breaking the law if she says anything like that.

She wouldn't say anything similar if somebody needed to take time off for emergency surgery.
She can't say it to a pregnant person, and you are not obligated to return to work early.

Is she breaking the law though..? It's not discrimination or anything. There's no law against being a bit catty towards someone for being "inconvenient".

(Is there?!)

Pregnancy is a protected characteristic, it is against the law to discriminate against somebody for being pregnant or being on maternity leave. Personally I would view those comments as discriminatory.

Picture this...
Employee to manager: Unfortunately I have to go in for heart surgery in 1 month and I won't be in until I have made a recovery, this could be months
Manager: "oh great, you're leaving us in the lurch"
"but you were just getting started"
" we have to do our meeting all over again now knowing you're not here"

She wouldn't say it to that person, she can't say it to a pregnant person. If she does it is discrimination purely because of the pregnancy.

If there is any pressure from said manager to return to work early then that could be a case for taking it further IMO, as you are entitled to take your full maternity leave.