Just offered someone a job and now she's told me she's pregnant! Disaster!

[Calendar]

Have spent months recruiting for someone, thought I'd found the perfect person. We've sent out the contract, agreed a start date, she has handed in her notice but before she sent the contract back she rang and told me she had just found out she is pregnant!
Obviously I want to do right by her, but it makes life very difficult for me. It will take 6 months to train her up, then we will have to get in a temp to cover her. Also, this is a trainee position and she is supposed to be taking exams for the next 3 years in order to qualify (finance) but that doesn't seem very likely any more.
According to our company handbook, she is not entitled to company maternity pay or even SMP, but she may get maternity allowance.
What a disaster! Any advice? I have got our HR dept looking into this, but they don't seem to know much about it. I want to make sure I do the right thing by this girl but it's really not an ideal situation.

The woman being hired is really going to lose out as she won't be entilted to mat pay only a basic allowence.

why, kerrymum, would you like to bring back the workhouse for pregnant women who can't support themselves? because god forbid they should actually work.

Yes, I see where you are coming from Kerrymum but would say that we have no idea of the girl's circumstances and as such it is not our place to judge, there could be many reasons.
Accidents happen or she could have been trying for years with no success and you can't put your life on hold indefinitely.

But I think in order to appreciate how difficult this is from an employer's perspective you may have had to deal with something similar and be aware of the huge cost implication.

Calendar, she might well surprise you and fly through those exams anyway.

I once went for an interview when I was pg but didn't know

I found out the night after the interview

and I did a very good job (as mi would have done, like she said)

but unfortunately they were complete gits to work for and I didn't go back after my leave

I'm sure this would not be the case with you

morningpaper, i'm not really surprised at the others, but i'm surprised at you thinking it's ok to discriminate against pg women in the workplace.

calendar, sorry i think you're being rather disingenuous. there's nothing to decide here, afaics, except whether you want to withdraw your offer (discrimination) or just get on with managing the situation.

i dont understand how your HR are "mulling this over"
there are guidelines for this sort of thing.

and as for the employee - as i said you dnt know her financial situation (any of you) so possibly she has savings, or she is able to save while in work for the short time she will be. she may 'lose out' on mat pay but im sure she understands that

I cannot see what is wrong with a woman trying to combine work and children. A number of us manage it quite successfully.

yes she might well do the exams

if she has a satisfying job with training and prospects she would prob be v glad of it

after all it is a difficult trick to pull off after having kids

Don't apologise Calendar - it's a valid post and deserves a valid answer. You will always get rows about this kind of issue as it is a contentious subject.

To my mind any company with an HR dept is not that small - and anyway, this is life - employers have responsibilities to ensure no discrimination topregnant women. If the woman is not entitled to company maternity pay, that is her choice etc - she presumably had all the terms and conditions enclosed with the contract and can mae a decision as to wheter to accept the post or stay in her old jhob. Her decision and hers alone. Goodness knows why she chose to inform the co of this before signing her contract - although afaik, once a signed contract has been offered it cannot be rescinded?

If you have recruited the right person, you have recruited the right person. Once she starts sit down and talk with her about the best way to manage to work / projects, and ask how she sees the progression of training. it may be possible to defer exams or a year's training? You cannot assume that it does not seem likely that she will take exams / qualify!!

I know it can be inconvenient managing staff but it is a crucial, integral part of runing a business, not an inconvenient added extra!

I know of another workplace where this has also just happened and the management are willingly sorting out induction AND mat leave arrangements. Because the person they appointed is still the right person for the job, pregnant or not.

any person that you take on could well get pg during three years

(apart from men obv)

Actually it's probably cheaper for you this way than if she works for you till a point when she is entitled to a rather more generous financial deal. Which would presumably be more honourable and all that jazz.

The reason we wicked impregnated hussies apply for jobs while simultaneously gestating is that there aren't that many good ones on the market. You see a good job, you apply for it. Pregnant or not.

And i am the CEO of a small organisation.

yes absolutely mi

I have a friend who applies for a new job every time she starts ttc

because it's the only way to progress and still negotiate part time working

Re the exams - I started my degree when I was pregnant, had the baby, had another baby and still finished the degree on time with a good result. This also included time abroad.

It's not impossible.

And sorry, calendar - the word 'disaster' in your thread title and the emphasis on "it makes life very difficult for me. " and your opinion that she will not now take exams does give the strong impression that you are wishing that you could actually discriminate.

Think of it this way - you can now recruit a temp, and look forward to continuing with the perfect person in and around her maternity leave, or you can begin recruitment all over again, which you say you spent months doing. So you won't gain anything by ditching her now, will you?

This happened to a friend of mine. She'd had lots of infertility and miscarriages. she had no idea that this would be the baby which would n't miscarry.

Every time I was pregnant it was massively inconvenient for my employers but they were still supportive and in return I worked bloody hard for them, way beyond the call of duty. it's worth being supportive if you've found someone right for the job.

Calendar you are not being discriminatory, and yes this is a good place to come for advice.

This is a genuine problem, you are not attempting to deny the employee any of her rights, but that doesn't mean it isn't a difficult situation for you to deal with.

She won't be entitled to any maternity pay if she is already pg and hasn't started employment yet - as nailpolish says you need 26 weeks service by 11th week before you are due, i.e. by 29 weeks pregnant, so you need to have been in employment before you actually get pregnant.

She will be entitled to maternity allowance.

Best thing you can do is sit down with her when she starts, and look at the situation together and work out how to make the best of it. Confirm to her what she is and isn't entitled to, have a look here, discuss with her the best way to approach her work over the next 6-8 months. She will have valid opinions as well about the best thing to do for both of you. You may get a sense from her as to whether she has any intention of coming back, but she has absolutely no obligation to make any decision about this so don't push it, but if she volunteers her initial intentions that may help with your planning.
You mention that this is a trainee post - be careful not to deny her any training she otherwise would have received, this would be discriminatory.
Similarly don't give any indication yourself about what scope there maybe for p/t working etc. It's far to early yet and you don't want to give any indication that it would be fine as it may not - that's a long way off anyway.

You have a commendable attitude compared to many employers. At one organisation I worked with I had a telephone call from a senior (female) director who was in the same position, and said she was just ringing me to 'confirm I don't need to stick to our offer of employment now, do I?'.

It's not an ideal situation for all concerned, but she can still be a committed and valuable employee over the next few months, and will have plenty to offer. And if you fulfil your obligations and also best practice as an employer, she will be more likely to come back as well.

I think it is totally understandable for the op to be worried, if it was me I would be wishing she hadnt already handed her notice in so she would be entitled to decent maternity pay from her other job.
Although, afaik there are legal guidelines of what has to be done in this situation which of course must be followed.
I hope you manage to get it all sorted calendar, both for you and the 'perfect person'
If this job is in finance I assume a lot of it would be computerised?? Is there anyway maybe she could work part-time from home, I know a friend of mine did this from about 2 months about the birth as she couldn't really afford to take too much maternity leave.

I was offered a job and found I was pregnant and withdrew my application. I had a miscarriage. Later on I applied for another job, having just conceived, and mentioned it after 12 weeks or so. I spent 6 months there then never went back. It was a low level part time job share and paid less than the childcare would have cost. Nothing can be fully planned and anticipated. I sympathise with the applicant and her honesty should be respected and applauded.

Calendar, it is a pain for you. I wonder if the woman really only just found out she was pregnant, or if she knew all along. I suppose the only thing you can do is talk to her and try to form a plan together, so you both know where you stand and you both have an idea of how things are going to work practically going forward. I don't think you will be able to withdraw the job offer, but you might be able to include some obligations in the contract for repayment of any training costs you have already paid out if the woman chooses not to come back to work after her maternity leave.

bossykate, I don't think it is "ok to discriminate against pregnant women in the workforce" but in small companies where an extra cost of 5-15k (which is what this can cost a company) could make a huge difference, this is a really big issue.

I worked for a small company several years ago who now don't employ women for this reason (yes that's illegal and it is not EXPLICIT but I know that is what they do).

When I left the small charity I was working for when I got pg with No.1 I worked up to 40 weeks and then resigned so that I would not cost them the extra of recruiting for temporary staff/training temporary staff/paying my pension and holidays etc. They simply couldn't afford to keep me on and if I'd stayed on it would have meant that they supported less people in the essential work they were doing in order to keep me on.

I find myself rather longing for said incumbent to find she's not pregnant after all, take job, and minute she's entitled to the full whack to go for it, in full whackery.