whooops. Advice really really urgently needed please!!!!

Savvy_Sue

But the OP did NOT know when she started that she was pregnant!

You don't have to be given your statement of terms and conditions until you've been there for 12 weeks. We usually write an offer letter before someone starts, then wait to see what hours / days works best before formalising it.

I wouldn't tell the boss yet because sadly many pregnancies don't go to full term, and it is early days yet.

tsstss7

fawd1 wrote: »

thanks all. I only started working without a signed contract as this is such a tiny company and it all happened very quickly (literally five days notice-not a problem then as I was temping) I fully expected to have a signed contract by the end of this week, but I'm feeling like it would be very deceitful of me to keep this info to myself now I know, especially as he went through an agency to find me, so has had to pay a hefty fee. What if I said I'd accept being given maternity leave but not maternity pay? do you think that might soften the blow somewhat? plus, it's a very portable job,I could do it on any computer and with a phone to hand, so I could feasibly be doing it at home for a couple of hours a day at least. I have a great support network, so if I needed a couple of hours a day I would get it.

You won't be entitled to smp (statutory maternity pay) anyway as you effectively needed to have not been pregnant when you started the position as a permanent employee to qualify so no need to feel guilty!!

You will qualify for maternity leave though, so if it was me (and as you are not very pregnant) I'd keep quiet until at least the dating scan and legally you don't have to inform your employer though until the 25th week (about 6 mths). You wont be costing your employer anything to pay your maternity allowance as it is paid (in advance in some cases) by the government.

foreversomeday

You will get Maternity Allowance, not Maternity Pay, which is paid by the government rather than the employer - so the company will not lose out financially, it is just they will lose out from the point of view as losing you as an employee for 9 months or thereabouts, meaning they will have to employ another temp. If you are entitled to Maternity Pay (it depends on your due date) the company can claim it back in advance from the government, so definitely don't feel guilty about costing them money - you won't be.

It is up to you whether to tell them as you may well feel guilty not saying anything. But my recommendation would be not to tell them until you have had your first scan at 12 weeks, and to imply that you didn't know when you signed the contract (You didn't know when you started, so it's only a white lie.)

Watch out for redundancy - I worked for a small company and told them before the 12 week scan and got made redundant at about 15 weeks, which was inconvenient. I do believe they had reason to make me redundant as the company was having unrelated problems, but I don't know whether telling them I was pregnant made them make the decision earlier. If it had been 10 weeks later, I would have been entitled to maternity pay through the company which would have been less hassle and slightly more money for me, but apart from the first 6 weeks, maternity pay and maternity allowance are exactly the same amount, so it works out okay.