Pregnancy discrimination? :(

[deanlings]

Hello

So I think I've just been discriminated against because I'm pregnant and I don't know what to think... I'm really taken back.

A couple months ago I was talking to a founder who was happy with hiring me, and we were close to signing the contract but then her main customer dropped out. She said she'd get back in touch with me about the role again once they picked up a new lead. At this time she didn't know I was pregnant. This was totally understandable as she was hiring me based on her workload increasing however with a customer dropping out, I wasn't as urgent a hire.

Fast forward to a month ago and we have had each other on Instagram and exchanged a couple generic messages. I then announced I was pregnant on Instagram (not private message to her). She has since posted the same job she was going to sign me up for and so I messaged saying I was still interested and could we talk again, I was hoping we could sign the contract this time.

She replied saying "Would love to take you on but I am looking for someone long term and I know you’re pregnant, which is amazing". No open conversation about what we're both looking for, no questions, just an assumption that I simply can't work long term. Which is not the case at all. Am I right for being hurt and for having feelings of discrimination here? Most of our comms are over email and message so there's a real turn in her approach.

How do I process this as I really admired her business and was exited to hopefully work with her. I almost feel embarrassed and ashamed for being pregnant which is the total opposite of how I actually feel about having this baby. I've never felt so empowered being a mum to be and working hard on my side hustles to earn an income.

Would love some advice.

I'm a freelancer with a professional marketing background and multiple clients, this one was a smaller five hour a week opportunity but a job nonetheless. "side hustle" may be the wrong way to describe it but essentially it's not the whole or majority of my work but I still needed/ wanted it to be part of my 40 hours per week of work. Also, when it comes to stuff like this, I don't think terms like "side hustle" should be hated on, it has its rep buy essentially people just want to do what they can to earn money in this nightmare of an economy - worry less about semantics please, that is not the issue.

I have plans but in place once baby is here to help me continue working and providing - something I feel passionate about. So it is only an assumption that I cannot work long term, also based on what she followed up with "I had a person in what was supposed to be 10 months but she had a baby and left after 3" so she has essentially tarnished me with the same brush, an overgeneralisation on pregnant women.

Ps to the commenter on "privilege" - I can be empathetic to this. Of course I have my privileges when you consider my sexuality (straight), class and race. I am still however a woman and a proud pregnant one at that - also covered by the Equality Act.

I've taken a day to digest and read comments. It's been interesting and helpful. My final thoughts are women should band together, as humans should in general. My hope is that as I look for work (the remaining 5 hours a week I do need to fulffill to pay bills and save etc) that no other potential employer decides to not hire me based on me being pregnant. Economically - this would disadvantage me just because I'm growing a baby, something that does not and will not affect my client AT ALL due to the nature of how I complete my work (yes, even the week I have the baby will be covered - some jobs out there don't require you on hand and can be pre-planned/automated).

The outcome I wanted from this thread is still a little unknown to me - I didn't have someone else to talk to and knew Mumsnet was the place to discuss. Taking action seems extreme, sitting quiet on my thoughts seems counterproductive. A sense of community felt encouraging.

Thanks to anyone that didn't judge or question my reason for posting.

Minorities are discriminated against, on a daily basis throughout their lives. You are right and it is so wrong. Pregnancy itself is only 9 months but the equality act does cover pregnancy women, those trying, those breastfeeding etc. too.

OP is it worth responding to her to let her know you have plans to continue working once baby is here if she wants to discuss it further. A shame she feels let down by someone else but you obviously can't comment on someone else situation.

Equally though you could just point out her discrimination to her blatantly on the basis that she didn't provide the opportunity to discuss how it would work when she was previously happy to hire you on a non pregnant basis. Discrimination 101.

I would also respond and confirm your ability to work over the pregnancy and birth time and say you'd like to discuss further in person.

Then if she says no, you know no chance to work together and politely mention the discrimination aspect. Mentioning it first won't get you any job.

Yes i’d say it’s discrimination, i’m not very clued up as to how the equality laws protect you here though in a work environment if you don’t already work for the company. I filed a complaint for pregnancy discrimination at my previous company.

I would honestly question whether you still want to work for someone who was quite comfortable with openly using someone’s pregnancy as a reason not to hire them.

I know this is generally a big issue. My brother worked for small construction companies and they told him they don’t hire any women of child bearing age because they are small companies that would finally struggle to cover maternity leave. Not sure how much of an impact it would have on them though if the woman only receives statutory pay? Apart from the time/money spent trying to find a replacement.

It’s great if you can automate all your work :) I had a traumatic birth and had to seek therapy as I would have struggled to get back to work even 7 months later.

If it's a time specific role, and it falls when you'd be on mat leave, then it's not discrimination, as it's reasonable- you can't perform this role and have a tiny baby.

I guess you could apply, if you think you're only taking the 2 weeks mat leave, and then you'll be back firing on all cylinders... I wouldn't blame her for being skeptical about your ability to do that, though, although legally she wouldn't be allowed to discriminate. She could insist you have the child not in your care, though- do you have childcare lined up?

You're planning to work- is this first baby?

It's 5 hours a week on a freelance basis. This can easily be done and as OP describes she has plans in place.

The client already agreed she had the skills to do the work, but since finding out she's pregnant is deciding to give the work to someone else for no other reason than she is pregnant.

It's is discrimination 101. If this were for a permanent role you could take them to tribunal and you would win.