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Original poster

Pregnant on zero contract hours.

124 replies

MrsBryan · 20/02/2014 10:15

Are my work allowed to ask me if I am pregnant?

I am going to ttc in April and don't foresee any problems with that side of things but I have been looking at my rights as a zero contract employee and they seem to be completely none existent with regards to maternity leave.

It looks like the best thing I can do is wait until I am 25 weeks before telling them I am pregnant.

Can anyone advise me on this? It's a minefield out there!!

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 12:05

Yellow that is a comm

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 12:06

Sorry

Yellow yhat is a common story.

Sorry that happened to you, am determine it will not happen to me!

OP posts:
yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 21/02/2014 12:55

I wouldn't have or couldn't have hidden my pregnancy as I was really ill and showed very quickly. As i said my job was pretty dangerous so did switch to desk stuff, but that mysteriously stopped, even thou i knew that i was booked in places to cover lots of holidays.
I do know one person that hid it as they were due to give her a quite big payrise with change in role and could have delayed it, then her maternity pay would have been base on her original salary not the new one.

lougle · 21/02/2014 13:20

You're incredibly rude. Shock

Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 13:24

I had to hide my last pregnancy for different reasons so I am quite confident about hiding this one

I have to tell them in my 24th week, which is just after the qualifying weeks. I just realised I don't accrue any hours while on holiday so l will have to work right through those 8 weeks oc my maternity will be compromised.

OP posts:
SomewhatSilly · 21/02/2014 13:24

I think what's going on here is miscommunication.

Flowery is giving accurate advice on an employee's legal position in this situation.

What MrsBryan is really looking for, however, is what is likely to actually happen if you have a shockingly poor employer who isn't going to pay any attention to the law.

flowery · 21/02/2014 13:28

"The point of starting this thread was to hear from other mothers in the same boat. Not to be 'told' what to do and then insulted when I disagree with it."

If you think that's what you asked for you need to re-read your OP....

And you still haven't pointed out where anyone has told you what to do?

Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 13:34

That sounds about right, some.

I posted this on mums net to speak to other mums not to Get black and white Legal advice which, unfortunately has no bearing in the reality of these contracts.
I really just want to speak to women in the same position as me or who have been here.

OP posts:
yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 21/02/2014 13:34

I looked into everything before i even told my company i was pregnant and knew this could happen, just kind of hoped it wouldnt. I did get SMP, so just presumed that's how it worked.
I just put it down to a "oh well, that sucks situation"
There isn't any other woman who do my job in the company, so maybe i should have put more effort in, so others wouldn't have been effected.

flowery · 21/02/2014 13:34

(Thanks lougle)

(Lacka I ditched the beanbag because everyone was calling me flowery anyway :))

Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 13:36

The problem is when you are heavily pregnant or with a new born, you are unlikely to fight so much else going on.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 13:40

Flowery I have been called selfish and arrogant for waiting.

OP posts:
yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 21/02/2014 13:41

exactly, i was really ill from 20 weeks and still not right so cant be bothered, just take my SMP till it runs out, ive paid in to the system for 16 years so can take it out for this.

Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 13:45

I will get SMP but I should got 6 weeks at 90% Pay which will be so important before the tax credits come in when the baby is born.

OP posts:
Thistledew · 21/02/2014 14:03

OP - you might want to check and possibly change your home insurance to make sure that you have legal advice cover. It could be useful if you do need to resort to bringing a Tribunal case.

I agree that there is a real difference between the advice you have been given about the legal position - i.e. taking an average of your weekly work to prove that you have been deliberately reduced due to a pregnancy related discrimination - and the reality of having to bring a legal case to enforce your legal rights (whilst being pregnant, giving birth and dealing with a new born, of course).

If you do need to bring a discrimination claim, bear in mind that you would have to lodge a claim with the Employment Tribunal within 3 months of the time at which you were discriminated against. So this would be when your hours start to being reduced rather than the time when you come to claim maternity pay.

flowery · 21/02/2014 14:11

"Flowery I have been called selfish and arrogant for waiting."

Not sure why you are pointing that out to me. However I scanned the thread and I did see that RedToothbrush thought you would be selfish and arrogant IF you ignore health implications. Not sure what's so controversial about that view.

Still waiting to be told where anyone told you what to do or gave you "terrible", "false", "worrying" "bad" advice?

That's a pretty appalling attitude to take with people who give time and effort to try to help you. If you genuinely thought people had misunderstood what you were asking, there are polite ways of a) thanking people for responding and b) clarifying what you are asking.

But I don't think anyone misunderstood you, I think you didn't read the advice you were getting properly, assumed people were saying things they were not saying at all, and took off with a really bad attitude. Then when people pointed out that you were wrong in what you'd assumed people had said, you conveniently ignored those posts.

wightjellybaby · 21/02/2014 14:29

Contact citizens advice its easier than the job center theyll be able to ancwer all your questions. You will get something I got employment support allowance as hadnt worked enough for maternity allowance in weeks up till due date.

Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 14:35

Thistledew that is good advice about house insurance thanks.

I get really cheap house insurance at the moment through the council.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 14:39

Flowery I have acknowledged and thanked you for giving me relevant advice. I still think that suggesting to people that it would be best to inform a company of your pregnancy under a zero hour contract is bad advice. I am not going to stop saying it because it will not stop being true.

I think you are very used to people accepting everything you say without question and you are now so put out that I have not gone 'oh okay I will take your advice immediately and tell them straight away' that your nose has been put out of joint.

It's quite obvious from reading the first couple of pages of this thread that pressure to 'let them know' was put on me.

I am not going to lie down and kiss your arse, however much you might expect it, so please let me continue getting good advice from people who have actually been in the same position as me and can advise me based on that.

OP posts:
yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 21/02/2014 14:48

yeah the 6 weeks pay would have been nice, but knew i wasn't going to get it, and couldn't face the fight.
I just get child benefit, and i think my SMP has finished now.

flowery · 21/02/2014 15:03

"Flowery I have acknowledged and thanked you for giving me relevant advice." yes you have now. But you said earlier you would only thank people who had answered your question, which I think was spectacularly rude.

"I still think that suggesting to people that it would be best to inform a company of your pregnancy under a zero hour contract is bad advice." Even if anyone had said that, it would be an opinion, not bad advice.

And I'm still waiting for you to point out where anyone gave that advice.

"I think you are very used to people accepting everything you say without question and you are now so put out that I have not gone 'oh okay I will take your advice immediately and tell them straight away' that your nose has been put out of joint."

Firstly, I have no problem with people disagreeing with me or choosing not to take my advice. No skin off my Jose, although most people manage to do it a bit more politely.

Secondly, again, please point out where I advised you to tell them straightaway. I don't mind you or anyone disagreeing with me, but for crying out loud will you stop claiming I said something I did not say!

Please also point out where I indicated that I expected you to "kiss my arse".

If you only want comments from people who have been in the same position, might I suggest you start another thread asking exactly that, and not asking what your work are "allowed" to do, as funnily enough, that might lead people to think you want advice about legal restrictions on your work.

Don't think I've come across anyone so rude in quite some time tbh.

flowery · 21/02/2014 15:03

My nose not my Jose.

Original poster
MrsBryan · 21/02/2014 15:08

I dont NEED to start a new thread, there are plenty of people not calling me 'arrogant, irresponsible, selfish' etc etc who have been in the same boat as me and are giving me real life advice about it.

I have re-read the first pages of this thread and I don't think for one second I was the one who started being rude. I contested being advised against telling my work late. That happened, I read it, again.

I contested being told that my work were legally obliged to respect my maternity pay, because regardless of what is legal, they will do whatever the hell they want to do and as other posters have pointed out, when you are heavily pregnant the last thing you want to do is get into legal disputes with companies who don't know their arses from their elbows.

You may not think that by saying 'Oh but by law they have to keep your normal hours' is suggesting I tell them early, but that is exactly what it was doing and it was bad advice to give.

I was treated very rudely by Red who then made up things I had said (about leaving the company) for absolutely no reason what so ever.

Now once again and hopefully for the last time, I would like to speak to people who have real life experience of this problem, not people who just want to quote law at me and clearly have no understanding of the lack of relevance that has in such unstable contract agreements.

OP posts:
TheXxed · 21/02/2014 15:10

MrsBryan I understand it must be difficult speaking to people who do not understand the reality of working for unscrupulous people.

Get in contact with CAB, they will be able to point you in the direction of no win no fee employment law solicitors in your area.

VillaVillekulla · 21/02/2014 15:12

MrsBryan, I'm sorry to hear you're having to stress about all of this while TTC. I think somewhatsilly is right that while flowery and others are giving spot on HR advice about your legal rights, you have good reason to be concerned about how those rights translate into reality because of your experience of shitty employers abusing the rights of workers on zero hours contracts because they know they can get away with it and you won't be able to afford to take them to tribunal or that it will be too hard to prove discrimination.

I'm going to PM you.