Pregnant & threatened with dismissal

[Bunny44]

I started a new job 6 months ago and found out I was pregnant a month later. Shortly after this my partner left me. It's been a really stressful time but I've tried to keep my head down at work and still deliver. It's a stressful job and I'm underesourced (several open headcounts in my team for a while) and I've flagged bandwidth issues many times and kept my manager in the loop on my priorities by weekly emails and meetings.

I told work I was pregnant 2 months ago so we could plan ahead for maternity cover.

I had a 6 month probation period which I just had a review about and they said they're extending my probation for a month since I haven't delivered a specific project which my manager wanted to see done. I have been working on it but it's not complete due to bandwidth issues which I'd flagged previously. He hadn't mentioned any issues with my performance until a month ago when he said he was disappointed this project wasn't completed. Since then I started focusing on this project and have made a lot of progress which I shared with him before my review but he was a bit dismissive and only wanted to focus on why it wasn't delivered before and implied I wasn't hard working enough. I was told that the 3 outcomes of the review in a month is that my probation is signed off or extended or my contract terminated. I asked for clear deliverables that need to be achieved by this date on email.

However I feel so stressed about this hanging over me. It's been a really really hard time emotionally due to the break up, pregnancy hormones and workload levels. I'm now struggling to eat and sleep (often sleeping less than 4 hours) and in turn feeling anxious about the baby. I will only have statutory maternity as is and no partner support so I can't afford to just leave but I feel really worried about the physical impact of this stress while pregnant. HR knows that I found this all very upsetting and stressful so not sure what else I can do but just get on with it, however I suspect now they just want me to leave so the situation feels hopeless. I feel very isolated, unsupported and depressed and not sure where to turn.

Are you part of a union? I’d contact them for some advice asap! I’m so sorry Op!

This Happened to me. I managed to get pregnant between the job offer and starting the job 🙄 obviously not planned but they way they carried on was as though it was all a cunning plan.

of course they extended my probation, I was even blamed for an error that the IT department made on my pc.

I resigned. I knew they were driving me out and I had no rights. ACAS weren’t much help either.

This was a global asset management house as well, not some two bit company which couldn’t afford maternity pay 🙄

That sounds like crap OP, but I'm sorry to say that I agree with @KetoQueen - it may be about your pregnancy, but they are building what looks like what may well be a solid case on performance grounds. With only a short period of service, your only possible grounds to claim against them is discrimnation, and in the first instance that is down to you to prove it. They will counter with failure to complete work / performance issues - the reasons aren't something that a tribunal can or will get into. At best it will be a messy, nasty scenario that is time-consuming for you and, given the backlogs of cases, not get to a tribunal for many, many months. Given you are struggling with stress now, that isn't something I would recommend.

If you will only have statutory maternity leave / pay anyway, I would seriously consider whether this is a fight worth having.

@Bunny44 Once you get to the Sunday 11 weeks before your due date your employer has to pay all your SMP even if they dismiss you or you resign.https://www.gov.uk/guidance/statutory-maternity-pay-employee-circumstances-that-affect-payment#employee-leaves-job

Use the online calculator https://www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculatorto work out the Sunday 11 weeks before your due date. If your employment with notice period takes you beyond this date then you are entitled to SMP.

What you need to do is keep doing all you can to comply with the performance requirements and keep putting in writing barriers like bandwidth and what you have done to resolve them. Keep trying to extend employment to the 11th week date.

They are being clever focusing on performance so don’t be surprised if they dismiss having followed their processes.

Make sure you find the probation policy and in particular the time line. A lot of probation policies give 3 months to improve so they dismiss at 9 months. If that is your employers policy point out they haven’t followed their own procedure as this would support a claim of pregnancy discrimination.

What do you mean by "I've flagged bandwidth issues many times " Is this personal capacity (physical) or access to data/processing?

I haven't delivered a specific project which my manager wanted to see done Did you keep manager updated as to why this wasn't done?

(sorry, not attacking you, just trying to get clear in my head)

I will only have statutory maternity as is

If I were you, I’d check out Maternity Allowance vs statutory maternity pay, and what my ongoing position would be for benefits if I quit my job (use Entitled To and put in figures as if you’ve had the baby and aren’t employed).

With 3 open positions on the team there’s clearly a management or retention issue and they sound very unsupportive. That won’t change when you’ve had the baby. So I’d be looking out for myself and seriously considering quitting.

OP did you have regular reviews during your probation period? That should have happened - for a six month period I would expect reviews at maybe week 2, week 4, month 3 of your employment and then a final review at month 6. Maybe fewer if early reviews flagged everything was great. Maybe more if there were particular concerns from either you or them.

If you had the regular reviews, did they express any concerns about performance or this particular project in the reviews before you announced your pregnancy? If they didn't express concerns, it is legitimate to query why it is such an issue now. You should have had warning. Pregnancy, or impacts from, for example, pregnancy-related sickness absence, shouldn't be used as an excuse to extend a probationary period.

If they did not do regular reviews during probation but just relied on one review at six months, that's not good practice from them. I think you can still question their process. Do you have email records separate from probation review paperwork to show when this particular project became a focus, what got in the way of completion and what actions you did to accelerate completion since the concerns were raised?

No it's a small company

I've since spoken to a few friends and realised that being pushed out seems to have happened at least once to everyone, where they make everything very hard for you and hope you leave. I genuinely have been working really hard though despite all my personal ongoing and have achieved a lot in this time, but it all seems to have been overlooked. I think my pregnancy is being seen as inconvenient

No there was no official review process before 6 months. We have departmental reviews (since I'm the manager of a department) but they are not supposed to be a performance review. It was in one of these a month ago that my manager flagged this project. What got in the way is the amount of projects I am covering vs bandwidth. I brought this up in meetings and on emails and hence we were hiring more people but those positions aren't filled yet. But last month he started implying that I should have somehow found time and even suggested that I should have worked extra hours after going to my 20 week scan one day.

For context I've taken minimal time off since starting and I often work overtime - it's just expected, but there are limits to what I can fit in the day and feasibly cover.

Since joining I have presented my plans very many times, given updates on progress against these and checked in with stakeholders and my manager on whether we are aligned. I have pretty much followed exactly what I said I was going to do and my manager hasn't commented on this until the last month or so.

I should mention that the original request seems to have morphed into a much larger project now which he wants delivering in under a month while I continue to manage all the other aspects of my job. I'm having a meeting to discuss it next week but my impression is that I'm deliberately being set up to fail.

As in my bandwidth to cover so many tasks/projects. Yes I kept updating him but then he retrospectively decided that my reasons weren't acceptable.

@Premiumbondbaby you are eligible for maternity pay if you have worked for 26 weeks by the time you are 25 weeks pregnant. The earliest leave can start is 29 weeks.

But the issue is that I need to work up to my due week as I'm a single parent with no other income. I've saved up to cover 3 or 4 months on the £700 or so after birth, but if it starts at 29 weeks and I don't give birth until 40 - 42 weeks then I have no income in between now and then, I'd burn through most of my savings and need a new job from 6-8 weeks after birth (to start) which might not be feasible physically or with childcare but I'd be at risk of losing my house otherwise.

Also aside from this, it's a job I really wanted and have been putting a lot of effort in, it's not just about the money. I don't want to lose the job.

@dementedpixie you are correct, but their could be a gap in income if the op is dismissed before 29 weeks e.g. dismissed at 26 weeks pregnant. If she can get to week 29 then the op can suspend the probation process by starting Mat leave.

@Bunny44 the reality is you are approximately 21/22 weeks (5 months) pregnant, as @dementedpixie says, your first objective is getting to 25 weeks so you are eligible for SMP. The earliest SMP can start to be paid is 29 weeks, so your second objective is to get to that date. Your 3rd objective is to keep working beyond 29 weeks to closer to your due date. Your 4th objective is to keep your job so you can return after Mat leave.

Your employer is trying to manage you out using performance, your best options are a) knowing what your notice period is b) making sure your employer follows to the letter it’s probationary policy c) doing everything you can to keep your job long term.

As I said in my first post, get hold of the probation policy and go through it to find process, timelines e.g. how much notice of meetings, how long you have to improve etc. Put in writing and complain about every single point where they have failed to follow their probation timelines and/or process, this may give you grounds for maternity discrimination or to extend the dismissal date (sorry but this is the reality) so you get to at least 29 weeks or more.

It’s a really shitty thing they are doing, so contact Pregnant Then Screwed as they may be able to help.

Long term you may have a case of maternity discrimination, but that will take at least a couple of years if you take them to ET. If they are clever and follow the probation process and timelines to the letter it would seriously undermine any case you might bring.

Your focus now has to be on securing your SMP, and if you can your job.

@Bunny44 have you checked out what benefits you may be entitled too if you are on SMP only and a lone parent?

There is also CMS, but as we all know that cannot be relied on.

Because I own my own house, and I'm a high earner, it looks like this disqualifies me from most benefits. Also for various reasons I won't be receiving any CMS either.

@Bunny it’s worth double checking as the worst they can say is no but even a few ££ can help.

Hi OP

Im really sorry you’re going through this. I must say what you describe does sound like being set up to fail. I think that contacting ACAS and Pregnant Then Screwed for advice would be really worthwhile.

I also think you should follow PPs suggestion of checking their behaviour against the written probation and disciplinary policies because what you describe so far sounds more like them making up convenient excuses than following a robust process.

Gather as much written evidence as you can of the non-performance reviews and all the other emails and written comments confirming that your progress was good/on track etc to compare to the negative comments that came after your pregnancy announcement. Do you have the 20 week scan comment in writing? I’d see what ACAS recommend first but I’m wondering if you go to HR and say it looks like probation is being swayed by your pregnancy rather than performance that it might scare them straight a bit, if they see that you’re switched on to the game playing.

About benefits- do you earn too much to qualify for child benefit? Also, your maternity pay will not be counted as income for the purposes of some parts of universal credit, so you may well be eligible for what used to be child tax credit for instance. It’s worth double checking.

Thank you for your guidance - I am already 25 weeks and the next review is at 29 weeks. So I guess it's objective 3 and 4.

Their probation policy seemed quite vague. Just saying that it's 6 months and they can extend it for another 6 months and in that time they can terminate with one week's notice. I asked for a clear plan of what I need to achieve and by what date to pass but what I was sent was clearly unachievable. I'm not going to agree to anything which isn't achievable so will review and discuss next week.

You are protected from unfair dismissal while pregnant even while on probation but as you said it's proving it.

I have a contact who is a lawyer who specialises in cases like this so they're going to give me some advice shortly but they've mentioned already that the fact that the department is underesourced and they're putting me on a performance review, the fact that they are setting unachievable targets and that they only started flagging any performance issues after I told them I was pregnant, are indications that there is a case for discrimination.

Anyone can join a union. It really is invaluable.

Why can't you claim maintenance?

@greyhairnomore mind your own business this thread is in work and about the op being unlawfully managed out of their job.

OK so you are over a couple of hurdles that get you to 29 weeks.

As a pp asked does the probation policy talk about regular reviews?

Your lawyer is far better placed to advise but when you next meet point out the probation policy states it can be extended by 6 months ask why they haven’t extended yours for 6 months.

Point out that you start mat leave in x weeks time and probation needs to be extended.

Good to know - I'll look into this although might be late now.

Thank you for the pointer. I need to check but when I looked I don't believe the policy stated about regular reviews.