Offer of employment withdrawn because I asked to see maternity policies?

[mentol]

Hello!
I was wondering if I could get your help on this issue. I suspect I have had an offer of employment withdrawn because I asked to see the maternity policies.
The employer was very keen on having me and has been doing everything to have me working for them. However, I needed to see the maternity policies before I signed the contract and those were not provided. Although I feared this would happen, I asked about those policies. That was last week.

The email I got in response said they couldn't give it to me easily and they asked exactly which policies did I want to see. The response also had, for the first time, a set deadline for giving a start date on that same week or the offer would be withdrawn.

Since then, their emails have been very "cold" and I felt immediately that something was going on. The person that dealt with me directly throughout the process (the manager) was very insisting for a start date and he wasn't before. I had the feeling he wanted me to say no. I sent him the start date before the deadline and said that I would be discussing my notice with my current employer this week (Tuesday or Wednesday). Since then, I haven't heard anything back.

Today, I got an email saying that the offer has been withdrawn because they cannot wait for me to start on the date I gave them (which is 7 days later than their suggested start date) as the business cannot cope with that. They didn't discuss with me an alternative date. I am convinced this is because I asked for the policies.

I requested these policies from someone on H&R but she didn't sent it to me. I sent an email to the manager in response to his request for the start date, saying that I didn't receive some policies I had requested and that I needed them before I made a final decision. The person I requested these policies from was not in on that day. The manager sent me immediately the policies without me telling him which policies I had requested.

For me, it is clear that they have withdraw the offer because of that, possibly because they fear I may be pregnant or having a child soon. I don't think they can do this and I would like to hear from you on how to best proceed.

I don't want to work for a company that does this kind of things but I want them to be reported if this is what they are doing to women. In my opinion, this is discrimination. There's also the issue of me discussing it with my current managers which the company knew was going to happen today at the latest. They have put me in a unpleasant position.

I would really like to know what you think of this. Can they do this? Should I report this to someone? Any ideas on how should I proceed? Any help would be much appreciated.

This is a very well know and respectable company. I don't think this is the normal conduct of the company and I think it may be a local thing.

Thank you!

Well it does, on the face of it, look like it may be unlawful direct sex discrimination.

What do you want to achieve? Obviously, you aren't going to work there now and you do have a job (presuming you haven't resigned). Is there a potential loss of earnings? Will you be able to find an alternative job on similar money in the near future? Is it the principle of what they've done?

Why did you ask them for the policy? Its quite an odd thing to do when Google can give you the information! Not saying its right, but for example if they have two good candidates after the same job....well of course they are not going to choose the one who made a big deal about the mat leave policy before accepting.

Geologygirl I think that's rather harsh. Employment is a two way thing. If you are planning to work for an employer for a few years, you may want to know what the policy is even if you don't plan on getting pregnant any time soon. It can also be a good indication of a company's culture. And, as the OP did, you ask for all the policies. So it's a bit odd if the maternity one is withheld...

And Google cannot give you the information. Google cannot tell you, for example, whether the employer offers enhanced occupational maternity pay.

A verbal offer is a contract so I'd ask them to pay you whatever the notice period for the job was! Well I would try anyway. Not waiting a week is laughable. Are they now going to get someone quicker?!

I am job hunting and would want to ask to see the maternity policy but would never dare ask for fear of this happening.

Will you say what company it was?

This is of course really shit. I do ymthibk you need to be cleverer in future though (once you have names and shamed these toasters). We shouldn't have to do it buy in my 15y experience in the city, never, ever mention anything to do with babies or families if you want the job. Get the mat policies through more nefarious methods like glasshouse, contacting existing employees via friends of friends etc.

Tossers! But toast them!

DH is a solicitor. He says take them to an employment tribunal - clear case of sex discrimination. Also report them to the equality and human rights commission.
This is awful and you should not have been treated in this way.

Does sound dodgy OP. Pragmatically, making clear to an employer who has offered you a job that you will only decide whether to accept the job based on the contents of their maternity policy probably wasn't your smartest move. You will have given the impression that you are either pregnant already or are planning to go on maternity leave very soon.

Of course that fact should be completely irrelevant and of course they should absolutely not withdraw an offer based on that. But actually even if they'd done the right thing, and let you have the policies without comment, the effect your request will have made on the impression they have of you would have been exactly the same.

Asking for a copy of the staff handbook or something in a more generic way would probably have been better, if your decision about whether this is the job for you really hangs on that stuff.

Anyway, leaving that aside, what result do you want from your next actions?

Sorry but why on earth did you need to specifically need to see them over another policy? Doesn't set the right impression does it?

The problem with taking it to ET is the fees. £250 to make the claim. £950 for the hearing and then, if you decide to pay for representation, you barrister's and solicitor's fees....

So, really, there's little incentive for an employer to act lawfully when recruiting...

Did your accepting the job really hinge on what's contained in their maternity policy? You do seem to have made quite a fuss...

I completely agree with Flowery that asking for the maternity policy rather than the Employee Handbook may not have been the best move, but seriously, I am surprised at the posters inferring that they're surprised at the OP's behaviour. Surely, withdrawing an offer because somebody might be pregnant (inferred from them asking to see the maternity policy) is discriminatory and unlawful! And she may not be pregnant (and evening she would it would still be unlawful) or even planning to get pregnant. A lot of assumptions!

*even if she was

Sorry- blooming iPhone and predictive text!

Have they actually withdrawn the offer? It seems like you are just getting that impression based on them suddenly being more factual about things like the start date (which is very normal, once you have moved on from the huggy smiley 'sell' part of the job offer to the more administrative side), plus insisting so much on a particular policy would give a funny impression and they may indeed be starting to feel a bit less thrilled about their new hire.

If they withdraw the offer that would be discrimination, but assuming you actually want to take it and that their policy is acceptable (given it's a large and reputable company i suspect it is pretty standard), perhaps you need to work on building some bridges.

Ah just realised I missed a bit, so sorry! This does sound odd about the start date - are you still keen to join and able to move dates?

Or if not, you do sound well out of it - and ET claim will be tricky given that you haven't given notice at your current job and they will be able to afford much more legal support. You certainly could get official advice, if you feel that you have suffered harm from this.

I have recruited hundreds of people and nobody has ever asked for the mat policy before starting, it is just not the done thing.

You say you hadn't accepted the job anyway and that you couldn't start when they wanted you to.

I dont think you would get anywhere with a legal claim. What was it you were looking for in the policy that would make you accept or reject the job anyway?

Thanks for all the helpful replies. For those criticizing me, you are in the wrong. There should be no problem in asking for these policies. Actually, I asked for 3 policies but they came back to me asking which ones in particular, and I knew immediately what it was all about. And no, it isn't available on google. My current job gives me a very good maternity leave and I needed to know before I signed the contract.

For all the others, basically, as someone said above, I want to toast them. I have a pretty good job and was only thinking of moving to another job because of the commuting. I find it disgraceful that these people act this way and someone has to stop them really. So I want them to be stopped and to pay for this. I shouldn't be afraid of asking for particular policies just because the employer may act unlawfully and withdraw the offer. No women (or anyone else) should be put through this.

I haven't replied to their email yet as I want to make it very clear in it what my next steps will be. I want to be sure that I am saying the right things. The notice period is very short and that was one of the reasons that I didn't fly to this job, so that won't penalize them much. My main aim is to stop them doing this to someone else, get those involved penalized and stopped. This is very serious and can have an huge impact in people's lives. I was about to lose a good job because of these people! That would have put my family in an awful financial position.

Any suggestions on what to put on the email?

Thank you for all the help!

Just decline the job if you don't want it. You may want to work for them in futpd, don't burn bridges. You won't get anybody penalized it will reflect badly on you. You don't want the job so move on to one you do want and don't ask for the mat policies before accepting.

Yes this is sex discrimination.

However I don't understand why you did it. Everyone knows that many employers are highly sexist, and that many who would consider themselves not sexist wouldn't be keen on hiring someone who was strongly implying that they were pregnant or about to become so.

I'm a feminist and want to change the situation so that women and men are treated more fairly in terms of child related stuff, but I wouldn't risk my own job / prospective job to make a point. Yes it's shit but that's how it goes. I think maybe you were a bit naive.

Incidentally the mat policy is fairly easy to work out:

Public sector - very possibly enhanced - googleable
Large private sector - may be enhanced - googleable
Third sector / small to medium private sector - likely stat ben

Why were you so keen to get this piece of info?

If you want to sue the pants off them and have the means though, go for it (just saw your last post).

Sorry I didn't see there were other answers in the next page. Well, I am not pregnant nor planning to become pregnant soon. However, that will possibly happen you sometime and my current job gives me a very good maternity leave. I just wanted to know the details. I didn't insist on the maternity policy. I asked for 2 more but the maternity one was the one that interested me the most as there was no details about it on the documents sent to me.

I didn't say I can't start when they want me to. They asked me for a start date and I gave it to them. They didn't set a deadline. They withdraw the offer (clearly stated as, we have decided to withdraw blah blah blah) knowing that I was just in the process of informing my current employer. They didn't send me an email saying, here's the deal, we can't accept that start date etc. They just got my email with the start date, they didn't even acknowledge it, and then just sent me the email withdrawing.

Next time ask for employees handbook and never mentioned maternity during a recruitment process

I am not surprised they found a way out, before agreeing to take the job your requesting mat leave policy was quite an odd request. Why are you so gun Ho to make them pay now? We're you looking for a fight with someone?

Actually reading your posts again I realise that you were asking HR subsequent to having interview and receiving firm offer of employment.

For some reason I had in my head it was in interview you asked for it, don't know why

Yes they are totally out of line, and it looks like a case (non-expert) if you have the time money and inclination to pursue it.