25 weeks pregnant job starting in a week

[Question2022]

Hi,

I will be starting a job soon with the NHS as a medical secretary and am going to be about 27 weeks when I start.

I heard that by 28 weeks pregnant they can medically suspend you. Please can anyone shed some light on this as I am slightly confused

So I have not told work that am pregnant until my start date. I am really worried to start a job at this late stage. Anyone who knows about NHS can pregnant employees work till the later weeks of their pregnancy what about covid 19? Can they accommodate working from home of the job can be easily carried out at home.

Thanks

That's a serious sense of entitlement and bad attitude there, OP.

How on earth can you justify this in your head?

According to the Citizens Advice website not informing your employer by 15 weeks before your due date is excusable if you have a reasonable excuse giving three scenarios

In hospital
Didn't know you were pregnant
Past 15 weeks before due date when you started work

Entitled to leave but not pay.

Very remiss of you to not have looked at employment laws around maternity.
Tell them soon before it’s too late!

Perfectly acceptable to keep hidden until you got the offer, since they can’t retract it.

But to keep quiet until the day you start? Deceitful.

Most people assuming @Question2022 is going to take more than the mandatory 2 weeks post birth leave and saying it’s unfair on her new dept.

But if she only takes 2 weeks cos someone else will be looking after the new baby it’s not that different for her new workplace than to a 2 weeks off for holiday / long illness.

You don’t have to have informed an employer by 25w if you start working there later, as in this case.

I imagine it’s quite possible that you’ll be let go when you go off to have the baby, as you will still be in your probationary period.

Good point @fluffi but for some reason I don't think the OP is planning on doing that. May have something to do with the audacity of expecting to work from home right away.

"It's irrelevant what the law says you've been morally and ethically deceitful - and does zero for womens rights and sets our cause back years and just plays to the stereotype that women are a PITA to employ"

"That's a serious sense of entitlement and bad attitude there, OP.
How on earth can you justify this in your head?"

Agreed with the above posters.

Good luck navigating this with your new manager and work colleagues, its going to be awkward.

Who told you you didn’t need to say anything until contract signing? They don’t legally have to supply a contract until you’ve worked there 8 weeks.

I don’t know all the details but this sounds screwed up.

For a laugh OP can you show up on day one in a baggy jumper and continue to keep it quiet?

On a serious note, WHY didn’t you mention it after getting the formal offer?

Yikes. I don’t get it, why wouldn’t you tell them?

I am a pregnant front line NHS employee. In order to qualify for maternity leave in itself, you have to have had 52 weeks continuous service in one or more NHS trusts, and informed them with a MATB1 by the time you are 25 weeks pregnant.
Unless you have transferred between NHS trusts, you will only be entitled to the mandatory legal time off of 2 weeks (I would hope this would occur even without a MATB1 but I'm not sure of the legalities around the 2 week leave period).

In order to qualify for SMP, you need to have 52 weeks continuous service at one or more NHS trusts, and have informed your employer of your intention to take leave again by something like 25 weeks, you have missed this deadline.

It is my understanding that currently only front line staff are medically redeployed, e.g my colleagues are working the phones doing nurse triage or telephone appointments etc.

A secretary in an office is likely to be requested to continue to do her job!

In all honesty, I would sack this job off completely to save them and you a load of ballache!

I don’t know what people expect pregnant women to do. I was made redundant whilst pregnant and had to get another job. I couldn’t just sit at home and hope for the best, I had rent and bills to pay. I’m sure it was annoying for the business that hired me but to be honest, you need to look out for yourself and put yourself first. I’m sure the NHS will be fine

When do u start?

Employment contracts are a day one entitlement in the UK not after 8 weeks as pp says

@elbea

I don’t know what people expect pregnant women to do. I was made redundant whilst pregnant and had to get another job. I couldn’t just sit at home and hope for the best, I had rent and bills to pay. I’m sure it was annoying for the business that hired me but to be honest, you need to look out for yourself and put yourself first. I’m sure the NHS will be fine

I think the expectation is that they are upfront during the recruitment process. Of course a pg woman is just as entitled to work but knowing they will be taking extended time off so soon to inform employer, just as you might a holiday commitment. I don't know how OH works during recruitment and it is possible what may have been relevant at time of interview could differ now, especially if there has been a delay in the process. Op has not elaborated on this, hence negative responses.

@USaYwHatNow

I am a pregnant front line NHS employee. In order to qualify for maternity leave in itself, you have to have had 52 weeks continuous service in one or more NHS trusts, and informed them with a MATB1 by the time you are 25 weeks pregnant. Unless you have transferred between NHS trusts, you will only be entitled to the mandatory legal time off of 2 weeks (I would hope this would occur even without a MATB1 but I'm not sure of the legalities around the 2 week leave period).

In order to qualify for SMP, you need to have 52 weeks continuous service at one or more NHS trusts, and have informed your employer of your intention to take leave again by something like 25 weeks, you have missed this deadline.

It is my understanding that currently only front line staff are medically redeployed, e.g my colleagues are working the phones doing nurse triage or telephone appointments etc.

A secretary in an office is likely to be requested to continue to do her job!

In all honesty, I would sack this job off completely to save them and you a load of ballache!

Really? The NHS site and gov.uk both say

It does not matter how long you’ve been with your employer, how many hours you work or how much you get paid.

They can’t make people come back at two weeks post partum, surely?

A lot of misinformation here. Every employee is entitled to maternity leave. You do not need 52 weeks of service to be entitled to maternity leave. That is nonsense. You are entitled to maternity leave no matter how long you have been employed or how pregnant you are when you join.

Your entitlement to SMP will almost certainly require you to have a certain amount of time in the company's employment, but depending on your employment history, you can claim Maternity Allowance, which is the same amount minus the 6 weeks at 90% pay.

Enhanced maternity pay is likely to have caveats such as 52 weeks' or more of service.

You can check your rights here:
maternityaction.org.uk/advice/discrimination-during-maternity-leave-and-on-return-to-work/

And the NHS info is here:

www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/finding-out/maternity-and-paternity-benefits-and-leave/

'If you are employed and pregnant, you are entitled to 52 weeks (1 year) of maternity leave, no matter how long you've worked for your employer.'

Please stop spreading misinformation just to try and make OP feel bad.

@elbea

I don’t know what people expect pregnant women to do. I was made redundant whilst pregnant and had to get another job. I couldn’t just sit at home and hope for the best, I had rent and bills to pay. I’m sure it was annoying for the business that hired me but to be honest, you need to look out for yourself and put yourself first. I’m sure the NHS will be fine

Did you deliberately withhold telling the new job about your pregnancy before the first day of your new job though?? People expect pregnant women to be upfront. There is no reason the OP couldn't tell the employer she was pregnant when offered the job. Honesty goes a long way to forging professional relationships in the workplace. Not being transparent about something that could take you out of the job you've just been given (over 100's of other candidates!) for potentially 12 months, has a distinctly adverse effect on promoting women advancing in the workplace. If you can't see the difference in your experience vs this one that's on you.

@LIZS I’m sure in a perfect world that is lovely, but realistically how many people are going to hire pregnant women if they know they are pregnant. Almost no one.

The OP has been hired because she is the best person for the job, she can tell them when she starts as is required. It isn’t a level playing field for pregnant women if they are required to say at interview. I hope nobody being so horrible is made redundant during pregnancy, it’s a desperate horrible thing to go through.

@eatthatcake I didn’t tell them during my interview, I did when I started. There is absolutely no requirement for women to tell anybody before. They openly told me they’d have never hired me if they’d known.

My job before had provided me accommodation, if I didn’t get a job I’d have been homeless too. Pregnant women don’t have an adverse impact on women advancing - the people discriminating against them do.

@elbea nowhere has op said she has been made redundant

@Question2022 can you clarify some things for me:
Have you been given a start date yet?
Have you had your occupational health checks yet?
Are you planning on telling your employer you're pregnant when you discuss your start date, or when you turn up on your first day?
How much mat leave are you planning on taking?

And no as a medical secretary you won't be suspended on health grounds as you're not patient facing.

@elbea

I don’t know what people expect pregnant women to do. I was made redundant whilst pregnant and had to get another job. I couldn’t just sit at home and hope for the best, I had rent and bills to pay. I’m sure it was annoying for the business that hired me but to be honest, you need to look out for yourself and put yourself first. I’m sure the NHS will be fine

Which is why you make sure you are financially stable before getting pregnant - whether that’s savings, knowing you can rely on one half of the couple’s salary, mortgage break, another stream of income etc.

Lots of horrible comments on this thread. I started a job at 22 weeks pregnant and obviously it's not ideal. However I needed a job and, as lots of the comments here suggest, there's a high chance of the job offer being withdrawn if pregnant women volunteers the information. I'm sure other women in the same situation would prefer to be honest and not be discriminated against but we're obviously not there yet.