Need help with telling employers about pregnancy

[mrsdaz]

Hi All,

I am currently 16 weeks pregnant and have been working for this company for just over a year.

My problem is that it is a small business, 2 directors and me, and one director is going off tomorrow on maternity leave. I will told when i started that by no means was i to get pregnant until she had returned from maternity at least. She herself was finished from a previous company for being pregnant so im sure will have ways around sacking me!

Im too scared to tell them and its stressing me out. I want to be fair to them as a small business really and be honest and say that i am not returning after baby but will this stop them paying me maternity pay? I will only get statuatory pay anyway.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Michelle

firstly they can't not pay you maternity pay, I think it would be discrimination if they did, you have no obligation to tell them yet that you are not returning to work so don't worry about that one for the initial discussion but they will obviously want to know how long you are going to be off for and you are entitled to 9 months stat pay and a further 3 months off unpaid so its quite resonable to tell them it'll be at least the year.

I just can't see how they can sack you for being pregnant - aren't there measures in place to stop this happening or am I incredibly naive?

Sorry I don't have any real advice, I think the earliest you have to tell them is 24wks if that helps, the positive of telling them is you are giving them an early heads up so they have time to recruit and do a hand over, if you were to hand in your notice surely your notice period would be less?

good luck and hope someone else comes on here as well to give you some support too I know it can be stressful worrying about it x

First of all they cannot tell you when you can and can't get pregnant.

Secondly they cannot sack you for being pregnant - if they do you can take them to employment tribuneral.

Thirdly they cannot withold maternity pay from you.

Fourth you do not need to tell them of any intentions for returning to work until after the baby is born.

I know it's hard but as a company they have obligations to their staff and there are very strict rules about maternity. If they do not follow these to the absolute letter you can take them to tribuneral.

They have no right, legally or morally, to tell you when you can or can't get pregnant. If you are sacked and you believe it is because of your pregnancy you can go to tribunal. Legally they can't not pay statutory maternity pay either.

In a way, your decision not to return should make their lives easier - it will be far easier for them to recruit a permanent replacement than a temporary one. They will have plenty of time to find someone, far more time than if you were leaving for any other reason. They will still have to pay your maternity pay even if you aren't going back - but they get this money back from the government.

I'd tell them as soon as possible. I do understand that it's difficult for such small businesses when employees go off but you have to be selfish and think that it isn't your problem. I think you need to tell them by week 25 anyway if you want to be eligible for maternity pay.

Good luck, and try not to worry

Most places only pay maternity pay if you return to work - if you don't, you hand the money back. You say they are not paying any mat. pay anyway, so what difference to them does it make? You are simply leaving the job and they can find somebody else to replace you.

The statutory pay comes from the government doesn't it? Given the company are giving you so little and you don't want them to hold the job open for you, I don't see they have very much to complain about it.

Good luck!

miffin - thats incorrect! You only have to pay maternity pay back if the company has paid you more than the government allowance and it is in your contract to do so!

You get government maternity pay based on how long you have been paying NI contributions. These are paid through your employer but they claim it back from the government so they are not loosing any money.

Some employers choose to top up their employees allowance and can request the top up element to be repaid but NOT the government funded element!

can I add that so long as you have fulfilled the requirement to be eligible for statutory maternity pay (SMP)which I believe is something like 26 weeks of continuous employment up until the 11th week before your baby is due, even if you hand in your notice before you leave for maternity leave you will still get SMP which is paid at 90% of your earnings for 6 weeks and then £123 (roughly) for another number of weeks. you don't pay it back even if you don't return to work, even though it is paid to you through the payroll as your wages would be.

Good luck with this horrible situation xx

I know by law they cannot tell me when to have a baby but they made it clear to me that there are ways round it. I work in recruitment and due to the market business isnt great so it is easy to get rid of me for not hitting targets etc.

Im just going to tell them tomorrow and get it out of the way, just hope for the best.

Thank you everyone for your replies xx

If you are worried they are trying to "get around it" then ask them for everything in writing straight away. They will have to think very carefully and hard about things if they see you are alert to this. Legally they can not get rid of you due to pregnancy - if they do - even by the back door, you have the right to fight it. If they think you are going to put up a fight they are less likely to try it on in the first place - be confident.

There are ways round it, but in a small company where you are the only person they would be getting rid of they will have to work an awful lot harder to prove they aren't firing you because you are pregnant.

They will have difficulty saying its because they are overstaffed, or need to make a redundancy due to financial problems given that one member of staff is about to go on maternity leave. On your side you also have the fact that they have already told you they didn't want you to get pregnant.

If you have been with the company for at least a year they need to justify getting rid of you. They can't sack you because they have no documentation from any disciplinary action, and they will struggle to justify redundancy as I have mentioned above.
My advice would be to tell them, and if you get anything other than a completely positive reaction ring ACAS for advice (presuming you don't belong to another union). The quicker you report it and seek advice the easier it will be.

I wouldn't mention to anyone that you won't be going back because
a) You might want to change your mind in the future.
b) You don't have to give them this information.

I look forward to seeing how you get on, it makes me angry that people think they can get away with this.

mrsdaz
how are you today, did you speak to them?
Thinking of you.

any news? did you tell them?

Hi everyone,

I have told them today, they are actually being quite nice about it!! cant believe it!

I havent said how far along i am though so i suppose that will be a shock when i tell them but i just said i hadn't had a scan yet as didnt want them to think i had deceived them all this time.

Thanks for all the advice, i have kept a text message from my boss saying how well i am doing at work so if things change from tomorrow when they have time to digest it then i have some evidence that it wasnt my quality of work if they try to get rid of me.

Michelle

Hey mrsdaz - sorry you're going through this. I have a similar issue in that I'm the next most senior person in my business after the two directors and I do such a variety of different things that I'm going to be tricky to replace.

However, I'm pregnant and - God willing - I'm having this baby, so they're going to have to deal with it one way or the other. Your employer's attempts to 'ban' you from getting pregnant (how disgraceful!) haven't worked so they're going to have deal with it in some other way. Whatever happens, they can't avoid it.

I think the important thing is for you to sit down and think about what YOU want. If you don't think you want to return to work after the baby then you might decide that you're not that fussed how they treat you. If you can get by without the maternity pay, then you might not want to put yourself through the hassle of pursuing them through an employment tribunal. If you need the money but don't want to return, then speak to ACAS as soon as you can.

If you DO want to return to work, then sit down with them as soon as you can and talk through possibilities - perhaps part time/ home working to start with before going back full time? The more positive your initial dialogue with them, the more likely they are to treat you fairly.

Glad your initial news was well received. As I said, they've got no choice in the matter but to deal with it properly and it's less hassle for them to treat you fairly than to think up devious ways of getting rid of you. Good luck and I hope it goes well!