Pregnant and on probation - any advice?

mauraf

Hi..
Can anyone please advise? Before I took my current job, I found out I was pregnant - and told the company this before I accepted and started. My probationary period is finished just around the time I am due to go on maternity leave. To date, I have heard nothing negative about the work I am doing - but am worried they could get rid of me at the end of the 6 months?? Does anyone know if this is permitted if I hear nothing to elude I am doing a bad job?
Thanks for advice!
Mauraf

Saint_Mel

Depends on the company. Where I work a girl mantioned nothing about
being pregnant when she was being interviewed and a few months in to
the job she went out on maternity!

mauraf

Thanks for the reply! I actually told my employer my ‘news’ prior to accepting the job – to give them the chance to back out if necessary (my conscience wouldn’t have allowed me to do otherwise!!)…
Just wondering if I should be concerned that they could get rid of me after the 6 months…without warning as such!

AARRRGH

Yes they can. They can get rid of you during your probation. Also, the law protecting employees who have been in the company for less than a year is very weak.

Why are you assuming they will do this though?

January

Check your contract, there's a clause in mine stating that if you are on probation you are still covered for maternity leave...

mauraf

Thanks for the replies guys....not sure if they will get rid of me - being honest....havent been given any indication that I will be....think its just me being paranoid!! Nothing in my contract...but staff handbook states the following:
” Any female employee who works more than 8 hours per week and for at least 13 weeks for the company, or a female employee who is on a FT contract which has at least 26 weeks left to run, has the right to return to work, the right to paid and unpaid maternity leave etc. etc.”
So I think that looks like I should be ok presuming my performance is up to scratch?? This legal jardon is ssooo confusing!!
I work a 40 hour week - permanent contract subject to the 6 months probabation....

Thanks all for advice - much appreciated!!

eth0_

dublindude wrote: »

Why are you assuming they will do this though?

A lot of companies are very devious about maternity leave. I remember when the entire I.T. dept of a merchant bank I worked for was being outsourced, we were all being made redundant and my colleague was pregnant. About 4 months before we were to start leaving, she gets a call from HR asking when her maternity leave was due to start (she had been in the company over a year by this time). A few days later we get our official leaving dates, and hers is about 2 months before almost everyone else, AND her finish date was the day BEFORE her maternity leave was due to start, so they were trying to screw her out of this! Can't remember the ins and outs of it, but a call to the Dept trade and enterprise sorted this out.