They can't fire you for being pregnant or even being ill while pregnant. I would give it a couple of weeks since you only just found out, for all they know it could be another 3 weeks before you even find out! Least if your settled a little into the job and you can see how it's going and see how your feeling, you can weigh up the options. You may not suffer morning sickness even if your family have as it can even vary with each of your own pregnancies, plus for a lot of women it don't kick in till 6 or 7 weeks. You don't have to legally tell work for quite a while yet anyway, long as your careful and don't strain yourself, you could always pretend you hurt your back for a week or two if you need to lift anything too heavy. Try sucking a mint or chewing gum when you have bad smells to deal with, might help a little! Then when your ready have a chat with your boss explaining that you didn't know you were pregnant when you started but would like to continue working etc etc. Good luck, let us know how things go!
Well, I'm still worried they could just find some other excuse, since I'm in the first 3 months it's not that difficult to fire people... I really hope I don't suffer from morning sickness, and that if it gets really bad it gets bad after 4 weeks. From what I've read your sick pay is based on your average weekly income the previous 4 weeks... so I hope I last that long! Just got my RCB today, so hopefully I can start working soon and "build up" some kind of rights.. I'll definitely bring mints, that souns like a good idea!
if you signed the contract, they can't so easily fire you. If they try, you can complain and I doubt they would want that! As the other girls said - don't tell them just yet, you still might not know (in theory you might find out only in a few months!). See how it goes. But if the work gets too difficult (carrying too heavy stuff etc), then better tell them.
I'm afraid you won't be able to get a maternity pay though, as you haven't worked for them long enough.
I believe that it won't be a great shock for them. When a company hires a young girl, there is always a good possibility that she is pregnant, or that she will very soon be... I'm sure they realise that!
Good luck xx
You're probably right... during the induction our "tutor" even mentioned pregnancy briefly and said that if we get pregnant they have the policies for that in the office (to keep the contract from being huge) I don't really feel like asking for that even before I've started working properly though!
I think I can get maternity allowance from jobcenter plus, but for a shorter time, and not anything from the company I'm working for. But it seems like if I work 26 weeks during my pregnancy I'll be able to get 26 weeks maternity allowance, but I'm not sure. I asked my dr. today and she said that sounded right and that I should get it even though I'm not an English citizen because I have an NHS number, I hope she's right!
you dont havr to tell them your pregnant straight away, they cant fire you, and they cant make life hard for you, you will get maternity pay. try not to worry and go for it, if its the job youve wanted then dont let anything stand in your way, im off for a job interveiw tomorrow i know when i tell them im pregnant ill have no chance of it but its a great opportunity and good interbeiw practice.
It's not a job I've wanted really, just a job I managed to get! I applid for anything and everything to have a job over the summer that could be a part time job when uni starts. I do think I'll enjoy it though, and working in care seems like quite the perfect preparation for having a baby really
Hope your interview went well!
i found out i was pregnant in my 3 week training period. i told them straight away as the job involved heavy lifting.
they were fine with it but i wasnt entitled to maternity pay from them as not there long enough.
getting the full amount from goverment though. xxx
Great to hear a "real life" example
I'm considering telling them quite soon because if there are things that are hard for me to do they're supposed to try to find alternatives for me from what I understand from what I've read online. One thing I'm thinking is that maybe I could then go to the homes of the people who are more capable, rather than the ones who can barely do anything at all, but then again, telling them early might make them cut back on hours etc since I don't have a min. amount of hours a week...
My dr. said that she would wait to tell them, see how I feel, and that if I should get really ill they can give me a sick note for flu like symptoms or similar if I still don't feel like it's the right time to tell them..
In addition I've now found out that working might take away some of my rights to get financial aid from Norway where I'm from, and the financial aid I can get there is about the same amount that I would earn working fulltime the whole summer here... so I really don't know what to do. I tried calling the office that deals with that but something was wrong with their phone... It would be annoying to work fulltime 3 months and get less than I would if I didn't work at all! (laws are sometimes so backwords, it's not right that you should get punished for working!) I would probably earn a little more working, since I will also work part time during the fall... but it won't be that much... I just hope I can find a solution that lets me get both! (It's a "one time" lump of money that the norwegian government gives to new parents, and it's around 3500£, so I really don't want to miss out on that! argh, so much technical annoying stuff!) I can see why maybe I can't get both, but it's just so wrong to get payed the same for not working as I would for working.
On a happier note: I found a second hand baby clothes and baby "stuff" shop right by the new apartment we're moving to, yey!
Thank you for your replies everyone!
I'll see what I end up doing after I've been able to contact the norwegian employment, government people and maybe when I see what my new job is really like "out in the field".
