Daughter pregnant, has been offered new job

oysterman

Yesterday my daughter was offered a job she has been after, today she did one of those home pregnancy tests & it came up positive.

Tomorrow she was to hand in her notice at work, she does not know what to do now.

Does she take the job, the job will include a certain amount of carrying quite heavy bags.

If she starts new job will she be entitled to maternity pay straight away or is there a qualifying time?

I know these home testers are not 100% accurate but a decission has to be made before tomorrow.

Any feedback gratefully received.

inkie

Based on the information that you have given - a positive test means that the hormone which is only present in pregnancy has been detected, therefore she will be pregnant. The maternity alliance website will give full details of mat pay/leave etc..
As for the new job - a pregnancy and heavy lifting are not compatible - the employer should undertake a detailed risk assessment for a pregnant employee (that is if they are aware of the pregnancy),and so she would need to be upfront with them for the benefit of herself and the baby.
What would I do? Stick where I was in view of the circumstances, I think. Also to consider would be sick pay provision - quite a lot of women are ill-enough to need time off in early pregnancy.

vixarooni

Congratulations to you and daughter!

If i were your daughter i would stay in the company she is at.

It will benefit her more financhially, the new laws have come in that you get longer maternity leave and other perks if you have been with a company after x amount of time. Also in regards to what you say the job wont be suitable for a pregnant person and they probably wouldnt employ her anyway because she would be unsuitable for the job whilst being pregnant.

http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/monster/empf37.html

that site has some details on maternity leave. Hope it helps!

ailuro2

stay where she is, she has more employmeny rights.

mummy_Jay

If she changes jobs she will lose her maternity pay.

"They have worked continuously for 26 weeks or more. The 26 weeks is counted ending with the week immediately preceeding the 14th week before the expected week of childbirth."

As a pregnancy is 40 weeks, she needs to have started with them when she fell pregnant.

"If an employee is not entitled to SMP, but has a National Insurance record they will qualify for 26 weeks Maternity Allowance at £112.75 as an employee or a lower amount for the self-employed".

I hope this helps as I fell into a similar problem when I found out I was pregnant with my son. I's been with the company long enough but the first 3 months were with an agency so I did not qualify as I didn't have the permenant contract until I was about 8 weeks pregnant.

As for the job, have a look on the net or even some book cover what you can and can't do but these only apply from when you have told your employeer and they do advise to get past the first 15 weeks before you tell your employeer. Get her a copy of "Pregnancy and Birth" magazine that normally has lots of good advise on these things.

If she does choose to go ahead with the job change she need to be sure where she stands on things like probationary period, you don't want a nasty sting in the tail, that they find a reason to get rid of her after 6 months.

mummy_Jay

hello again,

Ok something I think you need to see if you can get for you girl to look at is a book called "working womans pregnancy" by Hilary boyd, not only is a pregnancy this is whats happening with your body book but it goes into a lot of detail about different jobs and what you can and can't do as a pregnant woman, my copy was published in 2001 but it goes through all your working rights as a pregnant woman and finances. I think they have released a more up to date book since.

I recommend this book for any working mum to be, at any stage of your pregnancy.

Bun

Financial side apart, you do not have to tell a new employer you are pregnant, as it is discrimination for them to turn you down for this reason. However, from what you have said you would have to have a safety check straight away, so there is no way you couldn't tell them, and it really doesn't sound suitable anyway. Also many women feel fine in the first trimester, but personally, as I have felt terrible both times (and am copiously sick) there is no way I could a. hide it. b. start and deal with a new job.

good luck with the pregnancy but I think sticking with the existing job is the best bet.