new job offer but maternity leave? Help?

boogiesherbs

Hiya all iam after some advice my wife applied for a job internally within DWP as she has been with the civil service for 10 years.
Since undertaking the assessment center she found out she is pregnant so if all being well with be on maternity leave from xmas.

however today she found she has been put on a successful waiting list for the DWP list how does she stand with maternity leave and the new job can they exclude her on this basis?

many thanks

Roobarb73

Congrats on your news.

No they cannot exclude her from the job because of her pregnancy, that would be sex discrimination and very naughty.

Re the mat leave - is it with the same employer? All employees are entitled to 1 year's mat leave regardless of length of service, but the issue I guess is pay - and maybe even more so in the civil service where the pay is probably enhanced above statutory levels depending on length of service. If it's with the same employer and her continuous service would be protected then I would say her right to mat pay should be OK. If it's a new employer, no continuous employment then it may well be her right to statutory or contractual mat pay is affected.

boogiesherbs

hey thanks for the quick response she currently works for JCP and the new job is a promotion within DWP both civil service?

Roobarb73

I don't really know I'm afraid.

She could put some feelers out and ask if her continuous service would carry over to the new job, there are lots of reasons for wanting to preserve continuity of employment so there wouldn't be any need for her to disclose her pregnancy if she didn't want to.

clairec79

I was pregnant with my second and got offered the job (JCP) when I was pregnant (admittedly was offered the job the day before I announced my preganancy before I started though)

I did apply for the same position the previous year when heavily pregnant and didn't get it though (all I did in the intervening time was go on maternity then back in work for about 2 months) so make of what you will

willsonline

Why dont you get your wife to find out via the Civil Service, surely working there it would be the easiest thing to do!!

boogiesherbs

because she hasn't told anyone she is pregnant yet due to it being very early in the pregnancy!

Roobarb73

She won't need to disclose her pregnancy yet, there can be lots of reasons why people will want to know if continuity of employment will be preserved eg in case redundancies occur, any rights that may accrue depending on service etc. I just don't know enough about how the civil service is set up to know if continuity applies going from department to department I'm afraid.

Louise1521

I started working for the JCP when I was 30 weeks pregnant, I had 18 years previous Civil Service experience therefore qualified for maternity pay and leave. Didn't count for anything else though, such as leave. Rightly or wrongly I didn't mention the pregnancy until I had my contract. Not sure if they noticed the bump in the interview lol, but I wasn't small by any means, maybe they just thought I had a big tummy lol. To be honest, the management were fanastic and nobody held it against me at any time. I too am on a waiting list for promotion now. Best of luck with the new baby.

boogiesherbs

Just to update my wife has been told she is in the top 5 on the waiting list for the jobs.
When should she tell them about the pregnancy?
Can they drop her down the list?

KME91

They can't drop her down the list, and there are set dates by which she has to disclose to her current employer that she is pregnant, to qualify for mat leave etc. if i was her, i'd have a quiet chat with my union rep locally, and wait and see if they offer me a job. if the deadline comes around for telling her employer about her pregnancy before she gets an offer then she should tell her current management structure about her pregnancy.