Job hunting while pregnant - disclose or not?

[dutchmummy1]

I was made redundant at the end of last year, just before I was ready to announce my pregnancy to the world.

I have been trying really really hard to find a job - difficult since I cannot do fulltime due to childcare restrictions.

Now (20 weeks pregnant) in the interviewing process for three jobs. I am not really showing - especially when dressing smartly - and have not yet disclosed to anyone I am pregnant. But I feel quite bad about it!

One of them is quite a physical job and the other two are office based. I will be out in June for maternity leave and potentially sooner for the first job due to the physicality.

One one hand, I really want a job and especially the office based ones are perfect for me. Like a few times in a lifetime kind of perfect! I know employers are not allowed to discriminate but if its between me and somebody else I am willing to bet all the money on it that they take the other person. And I would too in their place.

On the other hand it feels like a 'bad' start to get hired and pretty immediately say: hey I'll be out in a few months.

Has anyone been in the same boat? Any advice? I'm leaning towards maybe telling the physical job before signing anything as I feel like it has much more impact.

If you tell them, you won't get the job. Bottom line

I have recently hired a woman who is eight months pregnant and am delighted for her. She didn’t mention her pregnancy in the first interview, which I did not conduct, but at the second interview I could see that she had a big bump and reassured not to worry and that we would hire a temp to cover her maternity leave. We are grateful that she has accepted the role and are not at all concerned that she starts her maternity leave 3 weeks in.

I work for a large organisation and we have women taking maternity leave all the time and it is not an issue for us.

If it was me I'd tell them

I work for a large organisation and we have women taking maternity leave all the time and it is not an issue for us.

Which is great because I imagine said large organisation has the resources and personnel to cover any potential disruption and keep business largely unaffected but for SMEs you can understand the wariness as it is a colossal inconvenience and more then just a bit of a 'pain' that some are suggesting. Not saying it is 'right', but as a small business owner myself if someone interviewed for a role, got it, and then announced their pregnancy a week after starting I would be a bit pissed off.

I would not tell them, they aren’t allowed to discriminate against you but it’s hard to prove if they do. It’s business and not personal and that’s on both sides, people feel too much loyalty towards companies I think. Also you do not have to tell them by 25 weeks if you are not working there. Once you have accepted the job and signed contracts you can tell them, or even on your first day.

I'm sorry, but it's wrong to not disclose a pregnancy when you're 20 weeks along, I can't agree with doing that. You need to tell them and hope that they're understanding.

It's not actually wrong though, is it?

And why should she tell them? So they can say no? Which actually is wrong, legally.

Look, I get that employees on mat leave are just the cost of doing business. But it's unrealistic to pretend that the costs are always small when it involves a new recruit. The 'best person' for the role is supposedly so valuable to the business that it's worth waiting a year for them. Yet, having someone else (who is clearly not the 'best', otherwise they'd have been picked instead!) replacing them for said year is supposed to have minimal impact on the business? How does that make any sense? This isn't anything you've said btw but the justification that's often used on here.

The OP herself is a hypocrite and admits that she'd avoid the pregnant candidate.

IME people looking for permanent contracts want exactly that. Unless the market's bad in which case they might take a temp role out of desperation. Or, they're looking to take the temp role to 'gain experience', meaning you have a substandard person in the role.

Of course the counter to all of this is discrimination is wrong (all correct) and people could leave/get sick at any time which is also true... but that's a gamble and this is known.

If I remember the OP (can't be bothered scrolling back lol) I think they said when they learnt of the pregnancy it was from other people, not the pregnant woman. Not sure whether that count tbh.

Well if they confronted her with it, it would be her 'telling' them but not willingly I suppose.

Not entirely sure how it works really when it's so complex, it's something as an employer and an employee I'd be taking professional advice on!

The protected period applies throughout pregnancy until the end of your maternity leave period (up to 52 weeks or until you return to work, if earlier). In most cases you will need to show that you told your employer about your pregnancy or they had become aware of it.
See the last sentence

The pregnant woman was unwell apparently and thus 'unable to focus on the job'

I worked with someone who did that. We all hated her. It made the hiring manager feel like an idiot. She literally was 8 months pregnant. You're very much in a no win situation here.

I would tell them at the end of the interview that way they mark your answers unbiased. Its not a good way to start a working relationship by letting people feel lied to. It might work in your favour as some people will be worried about being seen to discriminate.
It also means if they want you they could potentially select your maternity cover as part of that same process!

Unless it's a small family organisation, you will be marked in a way that it isn't easy to discriminate by HR so it will be irrelevant.

Not telling people is a good way to burn bridges, as you'd be off on mat leave before you had chance to win anyone who you might have lied to over.

Personally I’d wait until you’ve a job offer in writing and then discuss it with the employer, be firm but fair with your expectations, don’t leave anything open to “interpretation.” One of two things will happen:
1- They’ll accommodate your wishes for mat leave and work with you.
2- They’ll withdraw the offer (but morally and legally they’ll need to have good reasons for that).
Realistically if they go for option 2 you wouldn’t have been welcomed with open arms anyway so you will have been saved that discomfort when starting.

I previously work for a company doing recruitment, it was an unspoken expectation that anyone (male or female) recently married you’d expect to loose temporarily over the next few years due to them starting a family. It didn’t impact the recruitment process. However as a business owner now the announcement of a pregnancy would send me into a panic. But I have fantastic employees that I’d support 110%. The difficulty here come when they’re the type of employee that isn’t fantastic. Only the business you’re applying with will know if these circumstances work for them. As others say regardless of if or when you start if it’s “not working out” they’ll find a reason unfortunately.

I applied for jobs during two of my pregnancies. Both as a physio, both times I was 16 to 20 weeks. First one I disclosed my pregnancy and did not get the job. Second, I did not tell them I was pregnant and got the job. Was it awkward telling them I was pregnant withing 6 weeks of starting? Yes, it was. Did I care? Not one bit.

Has the law changed? Only a couple of people on here, including OP, have said they were made redundant whilst pregnant. That didn't used to be allowed. They used to have to wait until you'd finished maternity leave to make you redundant.

You can still be made redundant while pregnant, as long as it's a genuine redundancy situation. I believe maternity leave allows you extra protection in the sense you have to be automatically pooled for any suitable jobs within the company.

The OP got made redundant before telling her employer - so how were they supposed to know that she was pregnant? Employers are not psychic.

Not sure if you can tell them retrospectively but that makes no sense, every woman of childbearing age could claim to be pregnant upon receiving news they don't like. It's not like they ask for proof.

@hellojelly Doesn't everyone have to be pooled anyway?

My understanding is that some companies try to make pregnant women redundant to get rid of them. Obviously not allowed so a lot of managers are loathe to select the pregnant employee as opposed to anybody else. Unless it's very obviously fair (e.g. entire team getting cut).

I'm not sure of the exact rules, I just remember reading in a redundancy situation those on maternity leave have priority for other positions. Not sure if that means all are pooled and they would get the first job available, or if an employer can pool only certain employees based on their criteria but must pool someone on mat leave. There was some extra protection involved somewhere.

Of course they ask for proof. You have to have a doctors letter I forget what it's officially called. It's a bit silly to assume that every woman of child bearing age would claim they are pregnant if they received news they did not like. Come on. I think it's a little bit more complicated than that.

According to ACAS, a suitable alternative 'must' be offered to someone being made redundant if it comes up.

https://www.acas.org.uk/your-rights-during-redundancy/taking-another-job-with-your-employer

The below says that similar must be offered to people on parental (covering all 3 types of leave).

There's a new law that extends the period from pregnancy all the way through to 6 months after the end of maternity leave, but that bit's confusing. Surely if you're made redundant while pregnant you're no longer taking any 'maternity leave'? As you're unemployed?

https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/redundancy-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave/#:~:text=You%20can%20be%20made%20redundant,of%20your%20pregnancy%20or%20leave.

Assuming you mean the MATB1 form. I'm sure I got mine earlier last time but midwives don't seem to give them out before the 28 week appointment anymore, and you have to tell your employer before 25 weeks so there's an element of trust for a few weeks lol.

Yes that's it. Thanks I couldn't remember.