# Newly Pregnant and new job offer



## Madra Rua (25 Feb 2013)

Would appreciate some advice folks.

I applied for the perfect job 1 month ago. During the interview process I found out I am very newly pregnant. I have just been offered the position.

I will definitely advise the HR Manager about my pregnancy as I wouldnt feel comfortable otherwise. I would report directly to the HR Manager. 

Can they retract the verbal offer? 

I look forwrad to hearing your thoughts and advice

Thanks!


----------



## Time (25 Feb 2013)

Yes. They can retract a verbal offer.


----------



## Brendan Burgess (25 Feb 2013)

They can retract any offer, oral or in writing.

However, if they retracted an offer after you told them you were pregnant, they would be in serious trouble. The HR Manager should know enough not to do that.

If the offer is subject to references, they could claim that the references were  not satisfactory.

Overall, it's better to wait until everything is confirmed in writing. 

Brendan


----------



## Time (25 Feb 2013)

Tell them once the contracts are signed.


----------



## burmo (25 Feb 2013)

Agreed


----------



## Madra Rua (25 Feb 2013)

Thanks for your responese.

It really just puts a black cloud over starting in the company. I would so much rather have a chat with the HR Manager, get her take on everything and start a little more positively. I really feel like I am cheating them by taking the job


----------



## Dr.Debt (25 Feb 2013)

OP, I fully agree with you. Starting off on the wrong foot is not the way to go.

Go to the HR Manager and discuss your situation as any respectable individual would do in that position.

Others here have advised you to sign the contract first however this is deceitful and will put a black mark over your integrity.

If I was the HR manager, I would immediately realise that I had offered the position to the right candidate and accomodate you accordingly.

Don't always assume that people cant be trusted to do the right thing.


----------



## oldnick (25 Feb 2013)

Sorry if this seems really politically incorrect,immoral etc......

I know that most owners of small businesses feel the same - at least when in private conversation. The whole aspect of maternity priviliges/rights is something that really annoys many small traders. 
But publicly,few will say this...

I would absolutely have hated it if  I offered a job to someone who knew she was pregnant but accepted the position -knowing full well that she'd be off for much of the year.

There is ,of course, nothing  an employer can do about it.  The employer just has to find someone else for a temporary period and ,depending on the job, train that replacement -and then  let her go when the new mother returns.

The person on maternity leave is entitled to her annual holiday pay and bank holiday pay, as is the person who is replacing her. All this is extra cost and inconvenience which can continue for many months when the baby is still young.

For many companies,especially larger ones, none of this matters much.

But for small companies with a  small staff , especially where some training is needed, it is not easy.

I assume in Madra Rua's case this is a large enough company as it has an HR person.

I'm just putting the view of small traders who ,as it is, can barely survive,  let alone bear the costs of something that should be a societal cost, rather than down to the owner/partners and ultimately other members of staff.


----------



## Madra Rua (25 Feb 2013)

Oldnick

I can definitely see where you are coming from and take your points on board.

The company has circa 100 employees and is expanding rapidly.


----------



## oldnick (25 Feb 2013)

A Mhadra Rhua...

If the pregnant woman was as nice and as conscientious as you seem to be I'd have foregone my misgivings , taken a hit and hired you.

And,to be honest, if my daughter was in a similar position I'd probably advise the same as the posters above (i.e.say nothing).


----------



## DerKaiser (25 Feb 2013)

Brendan Burgess said:


> However, if they retracted an offer after you told them you were pregnant, they would be in serious trouble. The HR Manager should know enough not to do that.


 
Maybe I'm being naive, but I reckon the remote chances of an apparently sensible HR manager trying to pull a fast one in this situation would encourage someone to give full details up front.

On the same note, it is entirely reasonable not to declare every detail up front, and there should be every expectation that there would be no negative consequences subsequently.


----------



## Jewel (25 Feb 2013)

I'm a HR manager and I would hate, hate, hate anyone to tell me during the recruitment process that they were pregnant. 

Firstly, it is none of my business. 
Secondly, I would feel that they were trying to trap me i.e. forcing me to offer them a job on the basis that if I didn't , it might look like i didn't offer them the job because they were pregnant. 
Thirdly, it doesn't serve any purpose to give this information during the recruitment phase. 

You are not obliged to share this information - it will not "cast a black cloud" over your starting with the company. Nor is it deceitful or a negative reflection on your integrity. Your pregnancy is personal private information that has absolutely no bearing on anything to do with the recruitment process. 
Likewise, there is nothing to be gained by sharing the information after signing the contract but before starting. I recommend that you start in the company, and then whenever you are planning to start telling your family and friends you can consider to share the information with your new manager - explain to him/her that you didn't want to mention it until you had reached the second trimester and felt a bit more secure in the pregnancy. No biggie. 

And, not to be pessimistic , you are very early days yet - there is the possibility that you could miscarry and then what would the point have been in sharing this information? (sorry!)  

Any organisation can adjust to employees going on maternity leave - just like they adjust when people decide to leave the organisation.  

It's absolutely no biggie if you get a job, then at 15-20 weeks tell your manager that you will be going on mat leave in 3 mths time. This is ample notice for them to make plans for cover.  If an employee was leaving on the other hand, the company often only get 4 weeks notice so there is a mad scramble to backfill the role. 

There is a tendency for people to act like a pregnancy is something wrong or shameful - you are entitled to be pregnant, and you are entitled to privacy around your pregnancy, and posters trying to push you into an early on the basis that not doing so would be unrespectable, or poor reflection on your integrity is just wrong. 

Congratulations on the pregnancy and the new job.


----------



## millieforbes (25 Feb 2013)

Jewel said:


> I'm a HR manager and I would hate, hate, hate anyone to tell me during the recruitment process that they were pregnant.
> 
> Firstly, it is none of my business.
> Secondly, I would feel that they were trying to trap me i.e. forcing me to offer them a job on the basis that if I didn't , it might look like i didn't offer them the job because they were pregnant.
> ...




Excellent post Jewel. Well said.


----------



## Madra Rua (26 Feb 2013)

After a lot of thinking and talking I have decided that it might be the perfect job but unfortunately at the wrong time.

I feel I would have been putting myself under a little too much pressure (as per other post starting home extension shortly) and would want to give any new position 100% with no distractions. 

I have excellent maternity benefit in my current position which enables me to take 10 months off in total and I will receive some sort of pay for the full 10 months.

If I took the new position I would have pressurised myself to return to work as soon as possible after the 6 months maternity leave as I feel I would still be trying to prove myself.

So having said all that I called the HR Manager this morning. I told her my news and she really couldnt have been nicer. The offer still stands. She advised what the maternity leave is etc. After our conversation I realise what a super company they would be to work for and hopefully I will do so down the line.

Thanks for all your comments folks.


----------



## amtc (26 Feb 2013)

JUst another slant - only sharing, rather than judging..


went for a job about six years ago - got down to last two. Woman who got it had FIVE children in four years. We reckoned she was in work for about three months all this time. I covered her job on lower money. Her husband was on over 750k. She had three nannies. Caused huge ill will in work


----------



## Firefly (27 Feb 2013)

Madra Rua said:


> After a lot of thinking and talking I have decided that it might be the perfect job but unfortunately at the wrong time.
> 
> I feel I would have been putting myself under a little too much pressure (as per other post starting home extension shortly) and would want to give any new position 100% with no distractions.
> 
> ...



Sounds like a great company. My advice, you'll be back to work sooner than you know it and you'll be looking at someone else doing this job when you do. TAKE THE JOB


----------

