Health screening form for new job asks if I am pregnant. Do I have to tell truth?

[knittingmama]

Have recieved contract for new job, which starts in a few weeks. Contract states: 'Conditional upon receipt of a satisfactory medical report'. It asks if I am pregnant. I am about 8 weeks now. I have not been to my first antenatal appointment, although I have been in contact with a consultant about an MRI scan I had when I was a few days post-ovulation. In other words, the GP has no official record of the pregnancy but there is a record of a pregnancy-related query floating around in the NHS system. (I'm trying to think like a lawyer here. Maybe I'm getting carried away.)

Do I have to be truthful on the form? If so, I will have to come clean with my boss before I have even started the job. I did not intend to tell them until I was about 14-15 weeks along (after being in post for a month). Help.....

My instinct would be to say no to the pg question. You haven't had it confirmed (also trying to think lawerly!) Most people don't say they are pg until the first trimester has passed safely.
But then if you have the contract, being pg doesn't mean that you won't have a satisfactory medical report.
Hopefully someone more experienced will be along in a minute.

Can you write "possibly"?!?

they will know soon enough that you were pregnant when you filled in the form won;t htey?

is it even legal though to ask? is your job something that would not be compatitble with early pregnancy for eg?

I wouldn't bother telling them at the moment.
I'm sure you are not obliged to tell your employer until 16 weeks before the baby is due.
They cannot not employ you just because you're pregnant and if they did, you'd take them to a tribunal.

Could you find out who will see the medical report. They ought to be confidential.

Do not tell them. Unless there is a very good medical reason a PG woman can't do the job you have applied for I would keep quiet for now.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1250381

You do not legally have to tell them until 15 weeks before the baby is due but there are certain risk assessments that may be needed depending what your job is I would have thought.

Stating that you are pg won't affect anything, and it will ensure you get the risk assessment you are entitled to. The only issue is your personal desire not to tell your boss just yet, which is perfectly reasonable and understandable, assuming your pregnancy won't affect your work and you're not in a very physical job involving lots of lifting, etc.

Do you actually know your boss will see the report? You could ring HR or Occ Health or whoever is administering the report and ask. Depending on the size of the organisation it's likely to be dealt with separately and only flagged to your boss if there is a concern. You could request that your pg is kept confidential.

It is likely there is something on the report or somewhere else saying that failing to give correct information on a medical report may result in various consequences, including dismissal.

However, having said that legally you are not required to tell your employer that you are pg until 15 weeks before due date, so they couldn't take any action should you decide not to disclose it now. Also it is conceivable that you wouldn't necessarily know at this stage anyway.

My husband seems to think the best route would be to not send the form in until they chase it up... Also the form does say 'confidential'. It gets sent to the occupational health unit at the council- far removed from my actual job...

Definitely send the form in, there's no reason not to do that. You will be fine not disclosing your pregnancy if you want to do that, but on the other hand it sounds as though your boss won't be told anyway.

Just don't answer the question.

What Flowery said .

I wouldn't advise just not sending the form. If you do that, you're sending the message that you're a bit flakey.

Sounds like it doesn't go to your boss. If it was me, I would go with disclosing it on the form, but specifically stating that you do not wish this information to be disclosed to your boss at this stage.