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.

How would you feel if the roles were switched?

https://www.acas.org.uk/managing-your-employees-maternity-leave-and-pay

This says more than 20 weeks pregnant though? You can only get the MAT B1 form after that number of weeks.

The OP says before she was 'ready to announce' that seems quite early. What if someone wasn't very far along?

I do remember where I work you can get other proof if you need to announce earlier (e.g. in case of a risk assessment needed) a doctor's letter, appointment proof or similar but it takes ages to get one of those. Our processes for redundancy are so bureaucratic etc as well by the time it arrived you'd have left anyway so not much use.

This is actually quite a common scenario so I would tell them as soon as I had an offer in writing so they could offer the maternity cover to their second choice. I've seen this work out well several times and in one case the maternity cover was also able to be offered a permanent post at the end of their cover contract.

I would have to be honest. Surely, you have a conscience and want to show honesty and transparency from the start. If employers and colleagues aren't aware, isn't that also potentially creating issues in relation to health and safety?

In poem maybe.

Meanwhile in the real world, some companies will not hire a pregnant candidate even of they are 100% perfect for the job in a pool of otherwise crap candidates.

Legally I don’t know where you stand but ethically please think. Not every employer is a large business with endless money behind them. You are applying for, and telling a new employer that you want to work for them and expecting them to spend money taking you on, sorting a pension and possible benefits etc etc but knowing that you don’t actually plan to work for them for long. It’s so very hard when you are the person trying to juggle work and being pregnant/having a baby but I think it’s fair to consider the employer when taking in a new role….

If you want to keep the job long term tell them if you get an offer. This way they can decide if it's worth it for them still and you'll have a job after maternity if they decide to follow through with the offer.

If you hide the pregnancy they'll probably fire you within your probation for something as simple as "not fitting in". You'll never be able to prove it was discrimination and workers rights during probation are minimal. Heck, my husband got fired with that exact reason given because his manager found out I was pregnant and he would be taking two weeks off for paternity and he thought that showed lack of commitment 🙄. Fired him the day I went into labour 😆 That guy was a royal a**hole.

If you just want a job to see you through till you go on maternity don't tell them until you absolutely have to, you've got nothing to lose in that scenario really. I wouldn't even bother accepting an offer for the physical job- you probably won't be able to do it safely after they do a risk assessment.

Good luck on whatever you decide to do.

OP.. is this a large company or SME? I have worked for both. Now working for a company with less than 8 people this would cripple us having to potentially have you with us for a few weeks and then not coming back to work until 2025.

"This way they can decide if it's worth it for them still"

Sorry, are you suggesting that an employer could legally withdraw an offer from a pregnant woman purely because they're pregnant? You know that's illegal, right?

They didn't fire her for being pregnant but for falsifying medical information and not being able to do her job. You don't just get a free pass because you are pregnant

Except you have to be working for over 31 weeks I think it is before you earn maternity leave she has no entitlement to maternity leave from this company so she doesn't get to say any of this

She's entitled to the leave. Whether she is entitled to the pay is another matter, which is why I didn't mention leave.

*pay

People often forget when talking about the cost of maternity cover that actually employers reclaim 92% of SMP from the government and there’s usually a minimum period to work for an employer before qualifying for enhanced maternity pay (at my company it’s about 6 months I think)
Small employers can reclaim 103% of SMP.

@Hii93 you don’t have to legally disclose pregnancy on any form until you are 24 weeks pregnant.

@cockadoodledandy my point being is that they used not performing or another reason as to why they dismissed her. I can guarantee it was not due to her not disclosing or lying on the form.

I have absolutely no idea why my previous comment was deleted.

Everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that there was another employee who was pregnant and not dismissed. Reasonable adjustments were made for one so why not the other after her disclosure?
she didn’t inform her workplace so was deemed a good worker until the point the manager heard from other members of staff.

You're very naive if you think there isn't a million legal reasons they can give. It doesn't matter that it's illegal to discriminate against someone who is pregnant, they'll just give some rubbish reason and move on to their next candidate. Companies discriminate against protected people all the time using legal loop holes. It's just how crappy companies operate.
But also is my experience of accepting jobs, the offer is extended verbally before an official contract is sent. This is the time to tell. They can just not send the written offer and give what ever reason they want. There was no legal contract in place. They can just say they changed their mind.

@Noodlesoup123 exactly and if she was unwell due to being pregnant this would have been protected. Reasonable adjustments can be made. Hence why I don’t believe @nur comment.

I started my current job when I was 16 weeks pregnant and had a midwife appointment during my first week of work that I needed time off for. I wasn’t showing. I told my line manager on my first day and she was nothing short of happy for me and the time off was no trouble at all. It was covid times and the protection they put in place for me couldn’t be faulted. I was so worried about telling the rest of the team when I was around 20 weeks but everyone was genuinely happy for me! I cringed so bad at the situation as I was only there for 4 months before I was able to take 14 months off work for maternity/annual leave. I’ve been back at work nearly a year now and I look back on how awkward I felt about it all and really I didn’t need to be worried etc. at all.

My friend also started a new job pregnant and felt like I did but has had no problems at all.

I know not everyone has this experience but it’s the law that you’re entitled to maternity leave from day one of your employment. They might not like it but tough and if they treat you badly for it and you can evidence it, you’ve got a case! Pregnant then screwed, ACAS etc will all provide help and advice in that situation.

As long as you tell your employer by week 25, you carry on interviewing and going after the job that’s right for you regardless of being pregnant. Good luck and congratulations!

@Hii93 your employer cannot ask you if you are pregnant.
You are not required to disclose anything until a certain point in the pregnancy.

You mean you found out she was pregnant and rather than support her you binned her off and hid behind the fact that she ticked a box when she may well not have even known 🤔

As a hiring manager OP- I would suggest it’s better to tell them especially as you are so far along!

I really don’t understand why women would not disclose pregnancies - if the company would discriminate at the point of hiring all chances are they will find a way to terminate the employment when they find out as most likely this will still be during the period when they can do so for plenty of legal reasons.
And even if they don’t, is that really how you want to start the relationship with them?

Exactly what I meant

No woman is obliged to tell her employer until 15 weeks before her due date. Whether you are a new hire or have worked there a decade. Your medical information is none of their business (except in cases where adjustments need to be made), until 15 weeks before. Doesn't matter a jot what sort of "relationship" you want to build or not. The law is on the side of the woman here.

Legally you don't need to say anything yet. I personally would never do that. The employer is likely to be surprised/pissed off when they find out but yes legally they can't do anything.