Pregnant and offered new job

[LindaMcCartneySausage]

I've name changed for this, but I'm a regular.

I'm currently 22 weeks pregnant. I applied for my dream job in higher education in June before I was even pregnant. This is a change in career for me and the roles very, very rarely come up, so I was thrilled to be selected. I interviewed in September and due to various internal delays and budget reasons, was finally offered it today. I am so excited.

I understood that they cannot now withdraw the offer upon finding out I am pregnant and I am protected. Is this right? The other issue is that I applied for a permanent role, but was told today that the role was now a 1 year fixed term contract, not a permanent role, because of fluidity in student numbers, but in all likelihood I would be retained and become permanent after that.

Doing the maths, they want me to start the 1 year contract on 7th January when I would be 31 weeks pregnant, so they are only going to get about 6 weeks work out of me before I go on Mat leave (DS was early) and I don't think I could return until baby is 6 months old. Whereupon I would have 3 months left before the end of my contract. I'm fatalistic enough to think that they then wouldn't renew the contract because I was hardly in work enough to impress enough.

Does anyone have advice or experience? Should I take it?

A promoted position came up at my work that I had intended on applying for. Then I fell pregnant. My dh and I discussed, at length, the pros and cons of applying for the position which was also in the education sector. As I am sure you are aware the education sector is a very small world and I decided not to apply for the promoted position because I would have to knowlingly sell myself and promise the earth to get the job and then I wouldn't be able to deliver. Everyone knows everyone and I wouldn't want unfulfilled promises to be part of my reputation. We very sadly lost the baby at twelve weeks and whilst be delighted to be pregnant again, our baby is due any day now, I am not sad I didn't apply for the job. I am pleased that when our baby comes along and I go back to work I will go back to familiar ground that I can manage easily so I can concentrate on enjoying my family life. That is not to say I have no more professional ambition, I do, but that is not my priority for right now. And, from another perspective my dh has his own business in the corporate world. I cannot even describe how irritated I would be if he hired someone who could only fulfill 25 per cent of what they had committed to. The cashflow and inconvenience would hinder our life hugely.

Good luck with your decision making and congratulations on your pregnancy.

In the last few months I applied for and successfully got my dream job. I spent a month in training whilst HR checked my references and waited for my CRB check to come back. The same week these all came back I found out I was pregnant and (perhaps naively) chose to tell my boss before I officially started the job that I was pregnant. She took 2 - 3 weeks to get back to me (I left many messages but all were ignored) and finally told me that I could no longer have the job because there was too much risk, and that they would try and find me an alternative position. I've asked for a copy of the risk assessment and the company policy on pregnancy but am still waiting for these. Its now been over two months since I left my old job and have not been paid for the days of training. I have no idea if or when they will find me a job and am left struggling to pay my rent and bills, relying solely on my partner to support me. My only option is to go to the Citizens Advice Bureau and see what they say, but at the moment I am so angry and emotional I feel like I wouldn't be able to talk to them without crying!

I guess the moral of the story is to wait until you've started your job before discussing your pregnancy, although I still maintain that I should have been able to discuss this openly with my manager without being so clearly discriminated against and left with no job and no money.

PregnaKat you need to take action NOW to make sure you don't miss the boat with an employment tribunal claim - please call the CAB or check your home insurance policy to see if you can make a claim through that (they often cover employment related claims). Also check out the Free Representation Unit who will take on some claims for free.

But do it now, don't delay - the time limits are short and strict.

I started my current job at 19 weeks pregnant and I did tell them that I was pregnant before I arrived for my first day, but my situation is different as I work for a government department so they are (a) very family friendly and (b) better informed than many other employers might be about the legalities.