Declaration of pregnancy for job application

yelf

Do you have to declare that you are pregnant when applying / interviewing for a position?

Jarndyce

yelf wrote: »

Do you have to declare that you are pregnant when applying / interviewing for a position?

No you do not.

magenta22

Depends how far along you are and do you want to actually tell people yet, could you get away with you didn't know until if you get offered the role, been there a couple of weeks and then say?

Trouble is that as you are pregnant you already know that in so many months you will be on maternity leave, an employer shouldn't descriminate because of this but logically as they would also know that in so many months they need to arrange for maternity cover they might not take your application seriously if you do mention it.

Jarndyce

magenta22 wrote: »

Depends how far along you are and do you want to actually tell people yet, could you get away with you didn't know until if you get offered the role, been there a couple of weeks and then say?

Trouble is that as you are pregnant you already know that in so many months you will be on maternity leave, an employer shouldn't descriminate because of this but logically as they would also know that in so many months they need to arrange for maternity cover they might not take your application seriously if you do mention it.

Its not a question of whether she can 'get away with it' or not. She is simply under no obligation to tell the employer. That was the question the OP asked, and that is the answer.

t0rt0ise

I think women who do this are doing irreparable damage to the employment situation for others. Imagine that employer taking the person on and having to, almost immediately think about hiring someone to take their place while on maternity leave. Do you suppose he's going to choose another young woman again or will he go for an older woman or a man?

Just looking at the moral side of things for a change instead of the legal.. sorry.

Jarndyce

t0rt0ise wrote: »

I think women who do this are doing irreparable damage to the employment situation for others. Imagine that employer taking the person on and having to, almost immediately think about hiring someone to take their place while on maternity leave. Do you suppose he's going to choose another young woman again or will he go for an older woman or a man?

Just looking at the moral side of things for a change instead of the legal.. sorry.

What about looking at it from the woman's side of things?

magenta22

t0rt0ise wrote: »

I think women who do this are doing irreparable damage to the employment situation for others. Imagine that employer taking the person on and having to, almost immediately think about hiring someone to take their place while on maternity leave. Do you suppose he's going to choose another young woman again or will he go for an older woman or a man?

Just looking at the moral side of things for a change instead of the legal.. sorry.

Not really when my last two roles have both been maternity cover contracts

Older women can have babies too if they are still able.

Lil_Me_2

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Just looking at the moral side of things for a change instead of the legal.. sorry.

Is it moral for an employer who's advertising a permanent job to not employ someone who's capable of doing the job but might have 6 months off but then go on to work for many years for them? Life doesn't stop just because you have a baby, there are still bills to pay!

t0rt0ise

Jarndyce wrote: »

What about looking at it from the woman's side of things?

Looking at it from the woman's side of things.. if it were me I'd wait till the child was born. But then I'm a bit wimpy and wouldn't have the brass neck to inform a new employer that actually I was soon going on maternity leave.

I'm the same with disability issues. I ought to be able to get paid time off for my hospital appointments as per work's rules but instead I take a day's holiday or juggle things some other way. I do it because I don't think it's fair to do otherwise.

an9i77

t0rt0ise wrote: »

I think women who do this are doing irreparable damage to the employment situation for others. Imagine that employer taking the person on and having to, almost immediately think about hiring someone to take their place while on maternity leave. Do you suppose he's going to choose another young woman again or will he go for an older woman or a man?

Just looking at the moral side of things for a change instead of the legal.. sorry.

I got quite a few maternity cover contracts whilst establishing my career, they were invaluable for building up my experience in different industry sectors and I got a breadth and depth of experience that would have been unequalled had I stayed in one job with one company during my formative career years. Permanent jobs are not always what the employer or employee wants, although I no longer do contract roles I enjoyed my time as an interim and wouldn't have had it any different.

Anyway OP no you don't have to say, I'd keep quiet until you have the job and then let them know as soon as you need to after you start.

Jarndyce

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Looking at it from the woman's side of things.. if it were me I'd wait till the child was born. But then I'm a bit wimpy and wouldn't have the brass neck to inform a new employer that actually I was soon going on maternity leave.

I'm the same with disability issues. I ought to be able to get paid time off for my hospital appointments as per work's rules but instead I take a day's holiday or juggle things some other way. I do it because I don't think it's fair to do otherwise.

That's your choice and a completely subjective view as to what is fair and what isn't - and you're welcome to it

People have fought for years though to bring about a 'fair' system of equality of opportunity in employment. Many would argue that there is still a long way to go to achieve that.