No Maternity rights in my employee contract! Help!

binkyboo_2

I am not sure if this is the correct place to be posting so please feel free to move this thread if you feel it could be better answered elsewhere.
I have just found out i am pregnant, only about 5 weeks gone. I have my bookng in appointment on the 9th january. I have a review with my boss on the 11th january so i decided this would be the best time to tell him my situation. in preparation i have checked my contract and discovered that it contains nothing about what would happen to my job if i became pregnant or any information about maternity leave or pay. A few months back on a work night out my boss said to me in a joking way 'you know you can't get pregnant while working for us or we would have to get rid of you'. I am now panicking a bit. I know i have rights but where do i stand with regards to my contract not mentioning maternity rights?
All advice will be gratefully received.

looby75

if there are no specific maternity rights mentioned in your contract you automatically are entitled to the standard ones which are outlined here

As for your boss saying you would be sacked if you got pg, joking or not, he can't do that. You cannot get sacked because you are pg, it's against the law and he would be in a lot of trouble if he did get rid of you.

If you are dismissed.

If you are dismissed (including being made redundant) during pregnancy or maternity leave you must be given written reasons for the dismissal. It is automatically unfair and sex discrimination to dismiss a woman because of pregnancy, childbirth or maternity leave. This protection applies from day one of your employment.

Oh congratulations btw

crispeater

i have no advice in regards to your contract and working rights. although you could have a look here http://www.direct.gov.uk/Employment/Employees/WorkAndFamilies/fs/en
and see if that helps a bit..

also many congratulations on your fab news!! xxxx

magyar

Most contracts don't mention maternity rights. There is a statutory element to maternity, which doesn't need to be in the contract, which you can get information on here.

In addition, your company may pay you more than this, but this would not usually be contractual, it would be a policy which they could legally withdraw.

What I would suggest is getting in touch with your HR or personnel dept or person and asking for their current policy and whether it exceeds the legal minimum

LondonDiva

Given the 'joke' (which hopefully, is a bit of banter, but you never know), I would also advise that you start a log of anything untoward that may happen re work assignments, comments etc from the moment you let them know.

Nicki

I also wouldn't tell them so early. Most people wait until they are 3-4 months pregnant before they say anything, which is still loads of notice, and you can leave it much later if you wish. If you tell too early, they have more time to get twitchy and start cutting you out of things (if that's a risk), and also if anything went wrong (which I hope it won't obviously) you have put the idea into their heads that you are thinking of starting a family, and they may sideline you as a consequence.

Savvy_Sue

You say you've got a booking in appointment two days before a review with your boss. I believe (and the Working Families website will confirm this!) that you are entitled to PAID time off for any appointments relating to your pregnancy.

binkyboo_2

Thank you for all your advice i will have another think about when to tell them, i have the problem that we are quite a close knit team and some of us socialise outside of work on a regular basis. The means the whole no drinking thing is going to be difficult to get around for long as everyone knows i hardly ever turn down a drink without a very good reason!
Re the bosses joke i know that we have never had a pregnant employee work here before so i am very uneasy about how they feel about it all, i know they will not be able to sack me but i have a feeling they may make things very difficult for me.
I will try and keep you posted. If anyone has any more advice then please do keep it coming!

bumpybecky

firstly congratulations

the not drinking is easy - just say you're on anitbiotics (could be anything from chest infection, urnie infection etc etc) be non-specific!

I'd also not mention the pregnancy so early. Get the review done and out of the way without mentioning your news, that way you can get an accurate position of how well you're performing without it being 'clouded' by the pregnancy If it does turn out that there is a problem with the maternity rights then at least you'll have a written review as a view of how happy they were with you before you got pregnant IYSWIM

You don't say what you do, but certain jobs have additional risks when pregnant (e.g. handling chemcials, early starts, noise etc) and work shoudl carry out a risk assesment for you.

binkyboo_2

I work for a web design company so spend all day sat in front of a computer so nothing i can think of that may be a risk (except maybe for the 3 flights of stairs i have to climb every morning :rotfl: )
I think i will wait and see how it goes with telling work we are just a small company with about 15 employees so the fact i will need to be off for appointments and scans will be a big factor as they do rely on me a fair bit for knowing the goings on of each day. My oh also works for the company so i don't want anything to happen that may jepordise his position. What a pickle we are in eh!

alwaysonthego_2

binkyboo wrote:

I work for a web design company so spend all day sat in front of a computer so nothing i can think of that may be a risk (except maybe for the 3 flights of stairs i have to climb every morning :rotfl: )

Don't forget that sitting at a desk in front of a pc all day has risks like your poor back which can be agony if your are not sat properly supported with a big bump