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Original poster

What happens if you are offered a job when 9 weeks pregnant?

14 replies

Taichimum · 26/10/2006 13:51

Hi can anyone help? I have a job interview next week and I will be nine weeks pregnant. If they offer me the job I am not sure what to do. Do I have to say there and then that I am pregnant? If I do, can they legally withdraw the job offer if it was only verbal or what if the offer is in writing? It is a local government post and very equal opps.
I would rather not start off a new job in a dishonest fashion, especially if they could find out anyway if they request medical records as part of the recruitment process. At the same time I do not want to jeopardise my chance of doing the job, as part time local professional posts are hard to come by. Can anyone advise?

OP posts:

AnguaVonUberwald · 26/10/2006 14:00

Taichimum. I am very interested in the responses you get as I am starting a goverment job in about three weeks and could possibly be pregnant.

My experiance of apply for the job though was that it took around six months from the assesment center/interview - to when I was actually offered it! Is this one where you have to have security checks etc? In other words, it could all take so long to come together that the situation would be totally different by then.

justaphase · 26/10/2006 14:00

I was in a similar position.

I was verbally offered a job but before I accepted I found out I was pregnant. I chose to tell them and they found somebody "who was better suited to the position".

I am not bitter about it at all, I think when one starts a new job one should be able to fully commit and work really hard and this is not really practical when you are pregnant. Not in my line of business anyway.

If I were you I would not mention your pregnancy until I am offered the job. They can not legally turn you down because you are pregnant. However you will probably not qualify for any maternity benefits (except statutory minimum, of course).

moaningpaper · 26/10/2006 14:03

I think the right thing to do is to tell them you are pregnant at the interview - when they come to the "any questions" part at the end.

If they decide not to employ you because you are pregnant, then they are not the sort of employer you want to work for anyway! But local government should be v. equal ops.

twelveyeargap · 26/10/2006 14:04

New rules for babies due on or after April 1st 07 are that your length of service does not affect your maternity rights. It's all explained here.

Since you're only 9 weeks you might not actually KNOW by now that you're pregnant IYSWIM, so I would get the job first, but tell them when the ink is dry on the contract. I know they're not SUPPOSED to discriminate but you can't help wondering if they might.

candj · 26/10/2006 14:07

T'mum- if they verbally offer you the job, they cannot subsequently withdraw it - a verbal offer is a legally binding contract, regardless of the circumstances. I work in HR and we have to be very careful not to offer a job verbally whilst chasing references as it is legally binding.

So, I am not sure I would mention it at interview as it is not relevant but tell them as soon as they offer you the job - agree with justaphase though in that you won't qualify for maternity provisions (unless you have previous service in local government)

nailpolish · 26/10/2006 14:09

a colleague of mine started working with us recently and she is about 3 months pg

she will have maternity leave as normal, but without the mat pay (in my work, nhs, you have to have worked for 26 weeks)

she is entitled to statutory pay though i think

because she is not being paid anything by her employer she will have a replacement (which is unheard of!)

hope this is of some use to you

good luck x

marymillington · 26/10/2006 14:11

God no - definitely don't tell them at interview. Only tell them at the point of being offered the job. Unless its, for example a one year project based role that would really screw them if someone left halfway through, local authorities should be set up to cope with people having babies!

justaphase · 26/10/2006 14:11

Ah, canj, the way I was verbally offered the job was:

"We are not offering you the job but would you accept if we offered you the following package"

Is this a verbal offer?

Sorry about the hijack

moaningpaper · 26/10/2006 14:11

I've worked for companies who have taken pregnant women on - it's quite normal these days.

Please don't start working with a company by lying to them.

Twohootsandapumpkin · 26/10/2006 14:19

Agree you should tell them.

I used to work for a government organisation and they most certainly DO discriminate (but do it very slyly so their is no sh*t on them)!!! (I suppose it depends on the local HR though and how forward thinking they are!). In fact, I hate to say this but I found them one of the worst for equal opps/flexible working for Mums etc - as a government organisation you would think they would be the best but in fact their attitude absolutely stunk (and they certainly didn't practice what they preached!)- in the end I was basically forced to resign (completely different situation to you btw). I am v bitter about it but now think that I wouldn't want to work for anyone like that again so it's their loss and my lucky escape .

So sorry for the hijack, but I agree with MP that if they then don't offer you the job then they are not worth working for anyway!

marymillington · 26/10/2006 14:23

if you tell them at interview how will you ever know if you have been discriminated against, or if they just had a better candidate?

candj · 26/10/2006 14:25

Justa - no, I wouldn't say that was a verbal offer - sounds like they were very clever in wording it so that no verbal contract was made!!

Twohootsandapumpkin · 26/10/2006 14:26

On the flipside though, if you don't tell them at the interview and then get the job and have to tell them, it isn't going to look v good imo - not a great start. Having said that, I suppose you could genuinely not know you are pregnant at this stage....

Also, imo government orgs normally take an age to make decisions on these type of things (in fact ANY decisions) (took 6 months for me because of checks etc). Would it be a fairly quick turn around for the successful candidate?

Original poster

Taichimum · 26/10/2006 14:28

Thank you so much for all your speedy replies. It has been very useful. This would be my second job as I already have a long term part time job that is quasi civil service .e.g have civil service pension and a lot of same benefits but not actually a considered a civil servant. This may help regarding maternity pay but maybe not. Based on all your replies I think I will keep mouth zipped unless I get an offer at which point I will come clean which is the ethical and professional thing to do. Hopefully they would respect that honesty and honour the offer.
Second question. Does anyone know if you get two lots of pro rata statutory mat pay if you have two jobs? Also is tax complicated if you have two jobs. I heard you get taxed more on a second job but I don't know if that is garbage. Never been in this situation before.....

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