Accepting new job whilst pregnant

Undervalued

Kynthia wrote: »

Company policy states when pregnancy has to be declared by. This may vary wildly depending on the job and whether pregnancy is a safety issue. For example in many office roles it could be as late as 15 weeks before the expected week of confinement (EWC) whereas if you're a police officer or fire fighter it might be policy that you inform a manager as soon as you know so that you and the baby aren't at risk. I understand it might be difficult for your OH to find out the policy for an employer she doesn't yet work for.

Yes but she is not an employee yet!

Declaring it in advance, which she is under no legal obligation to do, is a sure fire way of not getting the job. If she is appointed then she must follow the company's policy (assuming it is lawful) regarding declaring the pregnancy.

Savvy_Sue

If she is pregnant, I'm another voting for the 'stay where she is for now' option. There's nothing to stop her job-hunting while she's on maternity leave, then she can just tell her former employer she's not returning. If they pay enhanced maternity pay, she'd have to repay the enhanced element, so keep that aside.

Archergirl

What happened?
Personally I think it's unfair to take a new job in this situation, the company will have to get some one else in to cover her....

Andrew_Ryan_89

Archergirl, she accepted the job. She accepted it before she knew she was pregnant but handed in her resignation after she knew of the pregnancy. She's feeling anxious about telling them and we plan to do so as soon as the first scan is done.

It is a little unfair but then again, she could have left for a number of other reasons. What's done is done. Any advice on the best way to let the employer know she's pregnant will be much appreciated.

YouAsked

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

Archergirl, she accepted the job. She accepted it before she knew she was pregnant but handed in her resignation after she knew of the pregnancy. She's feeling anxious about telling them and we plan to do so as soon as the first scan is done.

It is a little unfair but then again, she could have left for a number of other reasons. What's done is done. Any advice on the best way to let the employer know she's pregnant will be much appreciated.

I've been in this situation. I didn't wait for the first scan - I sought my line manager out on the first day and explained that I hadn't known I was pregnant when I accepted the job but I was happy for her to let people know on a need-to-know basis but understandably with it being my first pregnancy, I wanted to keep it quiet until I'd had my first scan.

While I *knew* I had certain protection in law, it was important for me that she knew I hadn't deliberately mislead her at interview - particulalry since at interview we had spoken about my development plan for the first year.

Have to say they were absolutely brilliant - first thing she said was "congratulations" and I had nothing but support - even got something through from HR the same day about all my entitlements. The only thing I would add was that it was a large company who were able to absorb my maternity leave. If it had been a smaller company, I would have a) worried about them accommodating my leave and b) worried they may try and finish me up so I would have begged my former employer to let me retract my notice!

PersianCatLady

To be frank, my fear is that they won't offer her permanent contract due to the pregnancy.
TBH if I was the employer I wouldn't offer her the contract either. Unfortunately it is this sort of thing that makes employers wary of employing women of child-bearing age.

PersianCatLady

Some of this post doesn't ring quite true.


In your update you say that "She accepted the job. She accepted it before she knew she was pregnant" but in the first part you say that "We found out last week that she could be pregnant and if so, she'll be about a month or so right now".


It sounds like she knew she was pregnant but she doesn't want to admit it that she took a job when she knows that she will be needing to go on leave in about 8 months.

muhandis

Personally speaking, I wouldn't tell anyone anything about my pregnancy until after the first scan confirms that the baby is growing as expected and that there aren't any obvious concerns.

Legally, you don't need to tell your employer of your pregnancy and intention to take maternity leave until the 15th week before your baby is due, regardless of where you work. Company policy can't override that.

Plus, assuming this is her first pregnancy, it most likely won't show until well into the second trimester. So there's a long way to go yet.

Sorry if I sound negative but I hope you have also kept in mind the fact that as many as 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriages. So I myself wouldn't prolong my agony in the current job and let go of my new job this early.

In your place I would change jobs and delay informing the employer until everything was confirmed to be proceeding well and it was beginning to show.

Good luck.

Kynthia

Until the first scan there's a significant chance that things might not be all good. Unfortunately I've known a few people to miscarry in the first 9 weeks or turn up to the scan to find things stopped a few weeks before or never really got started properly. Sorry to being this bad stuff up but it's very common. If she isn't too sick and isn't needing lots of appointments then I'd be tempted to hold off informing them. However if she thinks people will suspect or they're a supportive large employer then it might be good to tell them up front, as it's less stressful than hiding it.

FBaby

I think the key part is that she really makes an impression in the first few months. They are much more likely to be more accepting of the situation if she is showing to be honest, hard working, co-operative, giving the extra mile, etc... than if she starts asking for flexibility, time off (especially without telling them it's for scans), calling in sick (especially not telling them it is pregnancy related) and just not performing well.

We recruited a member of staff who was pregnant when we did. We were indeed not overly impressed when she finally made the announcement but... she was truly wonderful, never moaned, worked late to help, always helping others, got on with the job right away and just turned out to be a real asset to the team, so we just prayed that she would be back soon and sure enough she was, happy to continue to work FT and we've long forgotten that she was off maternity so soon after starting (although now waiting for her to announce number 2!).