Told them I'm pregnant and they have changed the goalposts

LegacyUser

I am and have been employed on continual 6 month contracts with a large well known company for 18 months. I have been pushing them for permanency for the past year and every time they renew my contract they say next time it will be permanent. So my new contract is due for renewal in mid April, so in early March I asked what was happening, and was told that they were going to move me to another team as it is the only area where there is growth and where I am most likely to be made permanent.

Since then I have notified them of my pregnancy, and during last week I asked again what was happening with my new contract as it is due up next week. I was told that they are extending it until the end of June only, as the new team I am moving to is made up of temps and they are all being let go at the end of their contracts at the end of June...I was very upset by this and so the following day they said that they were mistaken and my contract was actually until 12th July, which is conveniently 4 weeks before my child is due. I was also told that when I am ready to return to work to call them because things will have improved and they will sort me out with a job.

They have a maternity policy which states you must have 1 year continual service to qualify for Maternity pay (which I have).

It seems to me that the goalposts have changed since I told them I was pregnant, but I'm not sure if it is worth my while pushing it any further, or if I am just wasting my time...it is very stressful and don't want to waste my time if there is nothing that I can do and I have no leg to stand on....I will qualify for maternity benefit from the government but it is only a fraction of my normal pay which I need to pay my mortgage....

Anyone know where I could go to for some advice on this one?

Thanks,
Worried Mam 2 B

ANXIOUS

I could be wrong, but I don't think that people on a temp contract are entitled to maternity leave. I know in the large multi national I work in, that the one year service only applies to permanent staff.

LegacyUser

I've already checked that out and there are no distinctions between Perm and fixed term contract staff when it comes to Maternity, there is a distinction for agency workers but I fall under Fixed term contract and so would be fully covered.

SerialComplaint

But once your fixed term contract comes to the end of your fixed term, you have no relationship with the company, and they have no obligation to pay you maternity pay. This is just one of the reasons why many companies use fixed term contracts so frequently these days. Outrageous, but there you go.

Teyla Emmagan

I hate to tell you this OP, but I am pretty sure you won't be getting maternity leave out of them. You would want to speak to HR in there asap.

Icaras

Once you are in the job 12 months you are considered perminent in the eyes of the law regardless of your contract. It looks like they will try and not pay you if they can. I would suggest talking to citizen advice AND THEN talking to their hr dept. Don't commit to anything too quickly if they offer you somwthing, take your time think about it and revert to citizen advice again if you are unsure.

SerialComplaint

Icaras wrote: »

Once you are in the job 12 months you are considered perminent in the eyes of the law regardless of your contract.

This is not true. A fixed term contract is a fixed term contract.

In some cases of fixed term contracts which run for approx four years, there is the possibility of legal entitlement to permanency.

BostonB

You don't have to pay permanent staff maternity leave. For example. They could change their maternity policy , then make you permanent and you'd still not get paid on maternity.

Icaras wrote: »

Once you are in the job 12 months you are considered perminent in the eyes of the law regardless of your contract. It looks like they will try and not pay you if they can. I would suggest talking to citizen advice AND THEN talking to their hr dept. Don't commit to anything too quickly if they offer you somwthing, take your time think about it and revert to citizen advice again if you are unsure.

I would guess (but don't know) that being treated as permanent under law like that wouldn't cover maternity pay issue.

This is more a discrimination issue. However as they've not made you permanent before they knew about the pregnancy, its not really a change in policy for them. However moving you to a team that is being let go, could be considered discrimination. I think you'd need to get advice of someone who specialise's in the area. It maybe the case where you need to get the evidence you need now, then bring a case against them if they let you go.

They'd need to be careful how they deal with a pregnant person. From what I have heard they take a dim view of discrimination like that. Its not really looking like they plan to keep you on anyway. So its not like you're jeopardizing a future career here.

wmpdd3

However moving you to a team that is being let go, could be considered discrimination.

agree with the post above, i think it was unwise for the employer to do this, but its legal advice you need.