Job offer whilst pregnant but employer doesn't realise!

sofietrouble

I was made redundant a while back shortly after finding out I was pregnant and left without telling my employer I was pregnant. I've not been claiming any benefits, as my nearest job centre is miles away and I don't have a car, and it would be more bother than it's worth for £60 a week.

I've been job hunting ever since, initially looking for a 4 or 5 month temporary contract, as I am not sure if I want to go straight back to work after the birth in December, but those are as rare as hen's teeth to come by, so I started applying for normal permanent jobs. I understand that I won't be entitled to statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance either, as I am already 4 months pregnant now and it is too late.

I had an interview for a position advertised through a recruitment agency. My being pregnant doesn't affect whether I can do the job well as it's a desk based job, so I decided early on that I wouldn't bring up the subject unless asked at interview as it as irrelevant. But I thought it was quite obvious that I was pregnant as I am quite big and wearing maternity clothes already.
The agency interviewed me, it was a gruelling interview that lasted an hour and a half and they never brought up my being pregnant, much to my relief.

I passed this interview and the agency referred me to the employer for an interview with them. They seem to put a lot of trust in the agency as the interview with the CEO lasted all of 10 minutes over a cup of tea, and have since been told I have got the job.

It's a great position with great pay and I would love to take it, but it's now dawned on me that neither the agency or employer have twigged that I am pregnant. If I do take the job, when do I legally have to inform the employer? I realise I won't be entitled to SMTP or maternity allowance, but dos that mean I will have to be back at my desk the day after the birth? Will I be allowed to take any unpaid leave at all, following the birth? I planned on breastfeeding my baby, but this is now not looking to be an option...

I'm worried that the employer will be furious with me for not telling them (and rightly so?) as they'll have paid a heft agency fee for me, and if I quit after the birth, they will have only had me for 5 months.
Are there any options for me to take time off after giving birth, and for them to hold my job open for me? I realise I won't get any pay, but all I want is some time with my baby and if we budgeted very carefully, we could live off my husband's salary alone until I go back to work.

If anyone else has been in this situation I'd love some advice. Sorry for the long post, thank you if you are still reading!

[Deleted User]

Some employers wouldnt mention your pregnancy for two reasons.
1, if they did and then decided you were not the best person for the job they may be leaving themselves open to a discrimaination claim.
2, some just dont care, they have a good maternity policy and just want the best person for the job.

When you tell them depends on the company policy. Some companys will have guidelines of when you should discuss it as they need plently of time to arrange your leave and someone to cover you. Also if you want to make use of time off for the many medical appointments you might have they have to know. Some companies have not so good ideas on sick leave but allow 'sick days' for scans etc as per the law. They can not do that if they dont know.

You really need to find out company policy on maternity. Depending on your contract and/or position in the company you may still qualify for some of their maternity benefits, or you may not. Either way you are legally entittled to maternity leave even if unpaid.

If you are big, unless they are idiots, they prob know you are pregnant and just dont care because you were the best person for the job. You really should tell them because if something where to happen and you needed to start maternity very soon (pregnanacy related illness past a certian date can start maternity in some companies, it does mine).

Good luck.

Becles

You don't have to legally tell the employer that you are pregnant until 15 weeks before the baby is due. You've not done anything wrong by not mentioning the pregnancy so far.

Check out the rules for maternity allowance. I'm going off the top of my head here and it's been a while since I claimed, but I'm sure you only have to have worked for a total of 23 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the baby is due. Would your current employment and previous employment provide you with a total of 23 weeks?

If you do qualify you'll get around £120 a week for about 9 months. Check the benefits website for the exact figures and length of time it's paid.

mandragora_2

Not very pc, but I think a lot of employers would be miffed. I would, if I'd taken on a new member of staff and they hadn't told me of something that would affect their ability to do the job within the first six months of them working for me that meant I was going to have to go through the whole rigmarole of hiring again, albeit for the short-term. I know you don't have to tell until the last 15 weeks, but if I was interviewing you, I'd rather you did. Then at least it's out in the open. If it's a problem for them they won't ever tell you so, you just won't get the job, and that's the hard truth; if you look pregnant, they're not stupid, and will make their decision according to whether they want you enough on those terms or not. For anyone who doesn't look pregnant in similar circumstances, if they took the job and then announced impending maternity, they wouldn't be making themselves the most popular person in the workplace with their new bosses and colleagues, who might, understandably, feel a little taken advantage of and aggrieved.


If you can afford it, open, outright honesty is probably the best policy and would be best in the long run, but I also understand why you wouldn't mention it too. To be honest, I don't know how some smaller businesses survive nowadays with the maternity leave regulations as they stand.

sofietrouble

I agree...

I thought I looked pregnant, so decided not to mention it as I thought it would be obvious.
I feel much bigger than normal, but loads of my friends have said I just look like I have put on a bit of weight! So maybe someone who has never met me before wouldn't really know? I just assumed that as I thought I looked really pregnant, everyone else would also. I didn't want to make a big deal about my pregnancy by mentioning it either.

One of those lose-lose situations I think - damned if you do, and damned if you don't!

But with a baby on the way, and not certain if I am entitled to any maternity pay at all, I can't really afford to be honest outright I am afraid to say. I know it sounds bad but it is the truth. If I hadn't been made redundant in the first place I wouldn't be in this pickle...

mandragora_2

One of those lose-lose situations I think - damned if you do, and damned if you don't!

I know - and I can't add anything helpful really, other than to wish you all the best.

lauzellen

You will be entitled to Maternity Allowance OP. As you were already pregnant when you were made redundant! So you were working for the 26 weeks prior to falling pregnant plus the weeks when you didn't know you were pregnant and then these further weeks in the new employment! You need to have worked 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your due date and as you were still working when you found out you were pregnant you must qualify. I hope I'm making sense! Say your due date was 18th December 2009, then you would have to work atleast 26 weeks in the period of 12th September 2008 - 18th December 2009.

HTH

cazziebo

I've been hiring for long enough to know there are no guarantees when it comes to making a job offer. In this case the interviewer believed they selected the best person for the role. Had they known the candidate was pregnant, and on that basis offered the job to the next on the list, there is absolutely no guarantee that that person would stay in the job either.

I would much rather have someone on board who was competent and would give me five months good work, than select second best on the grounds they might stay longer. The OP is planning to go back to work, and the employer will be able to plan around the maternity absence.

I've hired pregnant women before and in both cases it worked out well. Where I have had issues is with longer serving employees who use pregnancy and discrimination laws to take as much time off as they can - leaving their colleagues to deal with their workload. It's a condition not an illness and in normal pregnancies (the vast majority) there is no negative impact on a woman's ability to do a job.

:T Well done on getting the position OP!

DrFluffy

Becles wrote: »

You don't have to legally tell the employer that you are pregnant until 15 weeks before the baby is due. You've not done anything wrong by not mentioning the pregnancy so far.

Check out the rules for maternity allowance. I'm going off the top of my head here and it's been a while since I claimed, but I'm sure you only have to have worked for a total of 23 weeks out of the 66 weeks before the baby is due. Would your current employment and previous employment provide you with a total of 23 weeks?

If you do qualify you'll get around £120 a week for about 9 months. Check the benefits website for the exact figures and length of time it's paid.

If she's 4 months alreay, and left having just found out she was pregnant (? 5-8 weeks, which seems to be the norm) then she probably doesn't have 23 weeks left to play with...

(also, do you mean a generic non-pregnant/pregnant 66 weeks leading up to birth, cos 66 weeks of pregnancy would make the OP an elephant or something )

lauzellen

See my post above - i've explained it albeit possibly not as clearly as I could. Obviously the 66 weeks is both time when not pregnant and when pregnant lol Only a man would say something so rediculously humerous

SomeBozo

Legally the OP has done nothing wrong. Morally, well, we each have our own set of morals.

I don't agree with this....

I thought I looked pregnant, so decided not to mention it as I thought it would be obvious

How does that work? Am I to assume that every lady of child bearing age that is showing a little overweight to assume they are pregnant?

That can't be assumed on visual appearance.

Bozo