Internal promotion - but am I misleading them?

[KnackeredNigella]

I've worked for my company for almost 4 years, and in April my boss changed roles and left a vacancy, which I've had my eye on ever since. The post was advertised eventually last month so I applied for this internal promotion.

I knew I was pregnant when I applied but at 10 weeks I wasn't ready to tell anyone, and 4 weeks later I'm now near the end of the selection process. My questions is, when do I tell them? I know I have a good chance of getting the role, but it's a demanding job, I have a really long commute and I plan to take as much maternity leave as I can. Am I being selfish, if they offer me the role, to take it until April then walk away for a year? I've worked hard to get here, but don't want to damage my reputation.

Really appreciate any points of view! Thanks.

Take the job and go on maternity leave as planned...you are entitled to and should have the security knowing you have the job on return whatever the time scale.

You are less protected if you tell them before you are selected because it would be difficult to show you were not selected because of pregnancy (though that is what will happen).

Good luck.

Well legally there's no problem but if you do go ahead and get the job and then announce that you're pregnant and off on a year's maternity leave then no amount of employment law is going to protect you from them making your life a misery if they take it badly.

Perhaps they won't have a problem - can you sound someone out about this on the QT?

And just to add to the above, if one of my staff did this to me it would make me think long and hard about what kind of future that person had under me.

What I did in a similar situation:
I went through the recruitment process and then told them at the end of the second interview. I hoped that by then they would have made up their mind & if i was going to be successful, they'd struggle to justify changing their mind to themselves/each other.

But I was lots earlier in the pregnancy than you (positive preg. test on the day of the first interview), so perhaps could justify more easily my reasons for not saying sooner.

I think if you take AML, you don't have the right to return to exactly the same job, although I think it does have to be equivalent. Might be wrong, but I think that's the case. However, if you are the right person for the job...

Go for it. Any sensible business would always think long term and would rather recruit the best person for the job. Similarly any decent business can cope perfectly well with the fact that women sometimes go on maternity leave. No reason to think it would be particularly more inconvenient for them you going on mat leave in this new role than in your current role, anyway.

People often think about discrimination in terms of what's legal and what's not, but actually it's about more than that. It's morally wrong to hold a woman's pregnancy against her as well as legally wrong, and it's also daft from a business point of view to do so. By being supportive of all its employees, not just the ones who don't become inconveniently pregnant, a business is maximising the pool of talent available to it.

I would suggest you don't mention your pregnancy until you have an offer. Not in a deceitful way, but just so that the pregnancy doesn't cloud the decision in any way. You and the employer both deserve the opportunity to have this decision made on merit only. If you tell them you are pregnant one of two things might happen. They might be living in the 17th century and decide to punish you for going on maternity leave in six months time by not offering you the job. Or they might feel 'oh dear we'd better offer her the job otherwise she'll claim discrimination and sue us, what a pain.'

If you tell them afterwards they've had the opportunity to judge you and the other candidates on the things that are actually relevant, and you will know whatever decision is made has nothing to do with your pregnancy.

Although the legal position would be the same, if it was for a year contract role and you were going on mat leave in a few weeks, I can more easily see a frustrated employer's point of view. But this is a permanent role, so it's a long-term business decision, and you will have 6 months to 'bed-in' and make your mark. Plus as a bonus, because they are recruiting for this role now, there might be the opportunity to offer your maternity cover to one of the other candidates.

As you've been there a while I would carry on with the application, as flowery said I would mention it if you got an offer.

It might not necessarily be a no, I was interviewed for internal promotion at 5 or 6 months pregnant, I was way beyond hiding at this stage, and I got the job. (and am now bag with a long commute and demanding job)

You do have a right to return to the same role after AML unless there is a really good reason that the employer can produce, e.g. role no longer exists, to move you to a different role (would have to have same t&cs anyway).

I know this isn't going to be a popular opinion but although I fully recognise it's a woman's legal right to take up to a year off (I've just started mine although I think I will go back sooner) I don't think that it's the right thing to do in every circumstance. For example, if you work for a massive company that will have no problem covering your role for a year then fine, but for small businesses it can be very very hard. Regardless of your legal rights if you don't manage this carefully it WILL damage your reputation.

I don't know your specific circumstances but if I were in your shoes I would be thinking about the impact on the business and colleagues, and thinking of ways to still apply for the promotion but to minimise any downside. For example... by telling them about the pregnancy after being offered the role together with a plan of how to manage it such as not taking a whole year or working from home part time after X months before returning full time. Or any other ideas you can come up with, but the point is to show initiative and responsibility. Also the very latest I would leave it is as soon as you're offered the job - they can't subsequently retract an offer just because you're pregnant and it would look very irresponsible for you to leave it any later.

As an aside, I wish it was a parent's right rather than a woman's to have a whole year off. There would be less discrimination against women in the workplace if parental leave could be shared as it is in some countries e.g. Canada.

runningrach - you only have the right to the same job upto 6 months. Then it is to a suitible job. Even the 6 month rule is based on it being availible (i.e. not split up, eliminated etc).

Thanks for everyone's comments, they're very helpful. I work for a large global organisation, so while I know they can cover my leave, regardless of length, I've come to the conclusion that I couldn't allow myself to accept an offer without telling them my status.

Having said that, if I tell them before I receive an offer and subsequently don't receive it, then I'll never know the real reasons why. More than anything, I want to know whether I can get this job on merit.

So I've decided that if they confirm I've been successful, I'll tell them before the offer is formalised and certainly before I accept.

Thanks again - the debrief is on Monday so I'll let you know!