Pregnancy discrimination?

[CBB2021]

Currently work in an industry where good candidates are hard to find and over the last year the market has become very competitive. I’ve had to ask for a number of salary rises for my team for fear of them being poached.

I myself have been headhunted on a number of occasions and the salaries on offer are much much higher than my own. I’m currently pregnant and due off on maternity leave shortly. Obviously I’m not in a position to accept a new job but I have raised it with my current employer as to why my role is currently so under market rate. They basically have come back and said they’re not interested in upping my salary.

Now in normal times I would go and get another offer either see if they would counter or leave. But I can’t do that and I just feel that because of my impending maternity leave they know I can’t do anything but this just doesn’t feel right.

I know it’s not explicit pregnancy discrimination but it kind of feels like it is? What can I do?

So you think you are being discriminated against by your employer because your pregnancy means you can’t get a job with a different employer?
Why didn’t you take one of the better paid roles you were head hunted for?

Have they said they aren't interested in increasing your salary because you're pregnant?

No it isn't pregnancy discrimination. IMHO. But you are not in a strong position to negotiate an increase at the present time. Why didn'nt you negotiate the increase before getting pregnant. Why didnt you change jobs before now if you are in such high demand and being head hunted.

No one is going to employ a heavily pregnant woman who can’t start for a year! I didn’t change jobs because I fell quickly unexpectedly.

I guess what I’m struggling with is if I wasn’t pregnant I could move or go back with an offer to leverage up.

They haven’t said they aren’t interested because I’m pregnant (would be shouting themselves in the foot) but lots of roles have been negotiated up due to demand and mine is no different. They just know I can’t leave so why bother? That’s what feels unfair I guess.

I suspect that it very much is pregnancy discrimination but they're not idiots and they're maintaining deniability.

I'd screw every penny you can get out of them for maternity leave, including all your accrued holiday, and start looking for new and better paid jobs shortly before you're due back.

But if you're planning to use a nursery for child care go back to your old employers first. DC in nursery spend most of their first three months coming down with one bug after another, and you keep having to take time off, which is stressful if you're settling into a new job and trying to be super-reliable.

Depends- have they given equivalent increases to other people in your job or similar jobs and is there reason to suggest you’ve been treated differently?

Yes other increases have been given and it’s because the market is competitive and not wanting to lose valued staff. They know I can’t leave so I do feel I’m being treated differently.

No, I don't think this is pregnancy discrimination. You (understandably) don't want to leave at the moment because you'd lose maternity benefits.

You could have left your employer for the other job offers/opportunities but you wanted to stay where you were. You can leave if you want to - it's you not wanting to leave that makes you feel as if you have lost your 'bargaining chip' over pay, because a culture has developed of using job offers as bargaining chips for pay increases rather than being results or service based.

You can leave though. If good candidates are so hard to find I can't see why another company wouldn't hire you to work up until you have the baby and then to return 9/12 months later. Of course doing this would mean you wouldn't be eligible for maternity pay (either statutory or enhanced - does your employer pay enhanced?), you'd have to claim maternity allowance but if the salary is a lot higher than what you're on now you may still be better off moving now.

So they know that the will probably eventually have to improve your salary but that you don't want to leave at the moment so they are taking a 'cross that bridge when we come to it' attitude. I would be upfront about it. "I can understand that you want to keep me well below market rate to save money, and you feel that you can because I'm in a poor bargaining position. However my bargaining position will improve very soon and you are loosing my goodwill. If you wait until the end of my maternity leave to raise my salary it might be too late for you. I will be making decisions at the end of my maternity leave based on what opportunities are available and on how I have been treated here in my time before maternity leave."

@CBB2021

Yes other increases have been given and it’s because the market is competitive and not wanting to lose valued staff. They know I can’t leave so I do feel I’m being treated differently.

Increases have been given to people in the same job? You are now paid less?