Tell potential employer about pregnancy?

Question

Okay, I graduated college in may and have been looking for a job since March with no good prospects. I have an interview tomorrow for a good job in my field. The catch is, I am 12 weeks pregnant. I am not showing, and have about 4-5 weeks or so before I do, based upon how big the baby is and my body size. The position is a 6 month contract to hire position, where I work for the staffing company for 6 months, and if the employer likes my performance, they hire me... I really want and need this job, the money is so much better than what I am making at the part time job i have now...but I fell bad about not telling them I am pregnant until after I am hired...but I'm worried if I tell them, they won't hire me....does anyone have experience with this, or any thoughts...

Answer 1

It is illegal for an employer to ask you about pregnancy, children or martal status. It is also illegal to discriminate against your pregnancy after you are hired since it must be treated as any medical condition.

Unless this is a job that would endanger you or your pregnancy you should not volunteer this information. Do this best job you can and when the pregnancy becomes obvious it should not make a difference to a decent employer. If you are good at the job and they let you go after the six months, they are not ethical people and you shouldn't want to work there.

Thonk about it this way: what if you had taken this job and found out soon after that you were pregnant? Would you still feel compelled to volunteer personal information? An employer should be informed as a courtesy far enough before delivering to arrange coverage while you are on maternity leave, but you are not otherwise obligated to report this. If you were a man whose wife was pregnant, would you feel a need to disclose this?

An employer who will defy the law and discriminate against a woman for a pregnancy would likely have done the same thing if you had worked there for years. Check out the Family Medical Leave Act for more information.

Answer 2

The company, whoever they may be, cannot NOT hire you because of pregnancy...it's discrimination. However, they don't have to hire you period and they don't have to GIVE a reason why. They just can't come out and say "nope sorry can't hire you cause you've got a bun in the oven" Your best bet is to be honest and up front and prove that your the best candidate for the job. Go into the interview with a plan of how long you expect your leave to be...could you possible work part time from home??? If you have a plan you will look mature and able to handle a new job AND a baby. If you hide the fact that your pregnant until after they hire you, they may question your integrity...after all it is a 6 month probabtion period.

Answer 3

Well yes! honesty is sometimes the best policy, but doesn't always pay the bills! I had a great job lined up and I thought I was doing the "Honest Thing" in telling my soon to be new employer I thought this was at my confirmation interview after saying I was hired, that that morning I had found out I was pregnant. The woman who was going to be my supervisor calls me that evening and said, "they have changed their minds!" They found someone with more experience than me ha! ha! ha! I had a degree in this position and had 15yrs exp. I do not think within 3-4 hours they could have found someone more exp. than me. So It's up to you if you really want the job then go for it if it doesn't work out then it's your choice to stay or not. More than likely they can't fire you after they have hired you wait a few weeks then tell them oh! I just found out I'm pregnant if it's a corp. w/ more than 50 employees they have to follow strict decremination laws so you would be wise to wait until after you get the job. I lost out on a lot of money but really they lost out on a great employee! Good Luck and Congrats!

Answer 4

That's tough. I would first talk to the department of labor in your state and ask them. Because in all actuality they can't discriminate because you are pregnant from giving you a job, but they can make it damn hard where you can't get hired. I worked during my pregnancy and they acted like I was a burden being kept on, but I still did more than I should've and I ended up paying for it. And they didn't even give me my job back, but it wasn't paying nothing so I wasn't worried about it. But you would have to eventually let them know so I would call them first and ask them what actions you should take because the job is liable for you and with a baby on board, many people don't like taking that risk or dealing with pregnant women. Yeah, I think that is wrong. But you are not that far along so I would tell them soon, or just get hired and say, oh, i'm pregnant, and tell them you didn't know how far along you were because you weren't showing no signs...

Answer 5

Don't tell them! Although potential employers are not allowed to NOT hire you because of a pregnancy, they can give another reason for why they're turning you down. Perhaps they'll say that you don't have enough experience, or something similar. I wouldn't say a thing at your interview. If you're serious about the job and the position, then it's fine not to say anything right now. If you're thinking that this may be a non-permanent thing for you, and you may quit as soon as the baby is born, then I wouldn't go for it in the first place. You do owe them that much! If you want this job and your serious about it, don't say anything right now. Wait it out and see how things go. I dealt with this a few times when I was newly pregnant, and go turned down from a couple jobs because I DID mention that I was pregnant. Of course, their tone changed drastically after that, and they gave me a bogus reason why they couldn't use me - my availibility wasn't flexible enough; I didn't have enough experience in the field...etc etc. Good luck with this and congrats on your pregnancy!

Answer 6

Many companies won't hire you if they know, because of frequents absenses, maternity leave, and then because of many mothers who simply do not ever return from maternity leave. This is very hard on an employer who may be using temps or other employees to hold the job open.
However, depsite this, it is better to be honest and up front. If you hide it you can create resentment. Your employer CAN look for (and find) other reasons to terminate you, or will wonder what else you are hiding. You may have a harder time getting a job this way, but dishonesty never reaps rewards in the long run.

I was pregnant with my first child and job-hunting 14 years ago. I told my potential employer about being pregnant, assured her I WOULD return when my baby was born, and- I got the job... ;)

Answer 7

Don't start a new job off on a lie. Tell them up front about the pregnancy. My company has hired and/or promoted quite a few women in the past few years even though they were in the early stages of pregnancy. They can't discriminate against you because of it. If you're qualified for the position, they'll want you despite an impending maternity leave.

Answer 8

I wouldn't tell them until I was wearing maternity clothes. Prove yourself to them before they find out. I started a new job at 12 weeks pregnant. The HR manager knew because my sister also works there and was excited & had told them - she instructed me not to tell the people doing my 2nd interview.

Answer 9

I guess it comes down to whether or not you could come away from the interview with a guilt free conscience (if you didn't tell them about your soon to be growing tummy).

Under EEO laws, however, a prospective employer cannot discriminate against pregnancy - it is very difficult to prove though if they do turn you down.

Answer 10

Absolutely not. It's illegal for them to ask you this or make a hiring decision based on this. You put them in a very awkward position by telling them, since now they think you may scream discrimination if you don't get hired.