Telling a new employer...

[lulu2086]

Hiya,

I accepted a new job in the middle of April and have since found out I'm having my first baby. I will be 8 weeks on Thursday.

Legally, I don't have to tell my new employer until I am between 20 and 24 weeks, but there is no way I will be able to hide it until then.

I want to have an open and honest relationship with my new employer but worried about shooting myself in the foot if I go in on Monday (my first day) and tell them my news.

Has anyone else been in this situation and can offer me any advice?

Thanks in advance

[Clairew7]

Hi there, congratulations! It is obviously entirely up to you how and when you tell them about your news. They certainly can't discriminate against you because of it, some employers can be a bit funny, but hopefully that won't bethe case. My advice would be whenever you choose to tell them, just keep your own personal notes on when and if anything changes in the way they then treat you.

The other thing to look into is maternity pay, to qualify for smp you need to have been working for them for 26 weeks by b the 15th week before your due date x

[lulu2086 in reply to Clairew7]

Thank you for your reply I'm going to play it by ear for now and see how it goes. Thanks for the advice about making the notes, I'll do that.

I've spoken to ACAS and I am entitled to Maternity Allowance, which means I don't get the 1st 6 weeks at 90% normal pay, I get the full 52 weeks at £138 per week x

[Clairew7 in reply to lulu2086]

I hope it goes well for you. I work in Employment Consultancy, so I see a wide variety of companies, some are fantastic with pregnant employees, others are a bit more difficult, but hopefully you've got a good one!

Good luck with when you choose to tell them and stay in touch with acas if you feel uncomfortable about anything. They should write to you after you tell them to confirm your entitlement to maternity leave and advise you that you will need to apply for maternity allowance.

Good luck! Cx

[k3lly80]

Hi, I was in the same position as you, I started a temp job knowing I was pregnant... think I was about 6 weeks! When I got to 9 weeks I was really struggling with nausea so I had to tell them in case they thought I was crap at my job!

Telling them and being honest was the best thing I ever did, they let me start a bit later in those early weeks and were very understanding if I wasn't feeling well or needed to go to antenatal appointments.

I appreciate the fact that I have been extremely lucky with this employer and not all of them would be so accomodating, especially not with a temp... however I've always thought honesty was the best policy.

I am having to claim maternity allowance as I am not entitled to SMP and I start my maternity leave on 1st June!!

Good luck

x

[tazmania]

Hi LuLu

Found myself in a similar position. Contract came through on December 1st, found out I was pregnant a week later and had actually conceived back in the October...

Personally I chose to tell them when I got too excited to keep it to myself - 5 weeks (ha!!). Luckily they are a good employer and i even went on to get a promotion whilst i was still pregnant. Other people sometimes wait until the 12 week mark, and others tell them earlier if they are suffering with sickness and other pregnancy ailments. The earlier you tell them, the earlier they can complete risk assessments to make sure you are looked after at work

Tell them whenever you want to.

Good luck, and congratulations xx