Maternity Leave

Hi ladies!

 Im a 22 yr old girl and i am 12 weeks pregnant with my first baby.  I have been working for my current employer for coming up a year in Jan 08.  I havet told my boss i am actually pregnant yet as i know u dont need to let your employer know untill 26 weeks??

Anyway there are a few of my colleagues that do know the knews and im worried that it has got around the office already as my boss has recently tryed finding ways of critisizing my work all of a sudden and has recently put me on a disciplinary.

I think he is trying to get me out of the company as he has found out im pregnant and dosent want to give me meternity leave as we are short on staff and have been for a while!

What do people think? is there anyone else that is in a simular situation, if so, would love to here from u.

 Lots of love

Louise and bump xxx

hi louise,

I had been working for the same employer for a year and first of all I wrote a letter to the head before I told anyone else cause once someone knows they all know. I didnt tell one of my supervisors cause he was very unprofessional and think he was annoyed that he found out after everyone else but I didn't have to tell him cause he wasnt the head. Do what you have to do. You have a right to take maternity leave when it is due. Its best to formally let the boss know asap and it gets it all out of the way. I told everyone that I was preg before they all started guessing and I preferred it that way cause I felt more in control of everything. Im now on my fourth month of maternity leave and really enjoying it. Hope that it all works out ok for you.

suzxxxx

Hi Louise,

If your boss is really trying to get you out of the company suspecting that you are pregnant, I would officially tell him ASAP that you are pregnant! The reason is that it is unlawful to fire someone on grounds of pregnancy (it is called discrimination on grounds of sex, as it is a gender related condition) and once he knows, there is not much he can do, apart from paying you maternity leave if he does not want to end up in court.If you do not tell him that you are pregnant, he can always make excuses and say that he did not know that you were pregnant and that he laid you off because of i.e. incompetence, so if your suspicion is right, hurry up and tell him. 

To Caroline, 

You may not be entitled to maternity pay but your employer do have an obligation to take into consideration you condition and adjust your work load accordingly. I don’t know how big your company is, but if there is a Human Resources department, I would go and speak with them about this.