New job pregnant HELP!

amother

Sun, Sep 22 2013, 12:29 am

I interviewed for a position, it took them 7 weeks to finally offer me the position, then I started right before YT so I had to deal with that right off the bat. Right around the time they offered me the position, I found out I was pregnant. How soon should I tell my manager? I've never dealt with this before.... I'm petrified. I won't have enough time in the job to qualify for FMLA, what are the chances they'll let me go? If you could add what type of job you have when responding that would be great. Plus any advice broaching the topic with my NEW not very friendly boss.

amother

Sun, Sep 22 2013, 1:54 am

They cannot fire you for being pregnant. Hopefully they will be mentchen about you taking maternity leave before FMLA kicks in for you.

I got pregnant shortly after I took a new job and though it was very uncomfortable to have to tell them, I did so a week before I put on maternity clothes.

BH it worked out.

Bsha'ah tova and hatzlacha.

treetop12

Sun, Sep 22 2013, 11:13 am

I have worked in senior HR management for quite a while and would suggest the following:
Although, your job is not protected by FMLA, you should work as hard as possible to please your boss and show your value. This will ensure you the best possible job protection.
I have been involved in this situation many times (on the HR side) and in discussions with the managers involved it always boiled down to the employee, if the employee was good and has proved their value, managers were willing to hold the job for the duration of the maternity.
I would definitely recommend waiting to tell your employer about your pregnancy until you are ready to put on maternity. Until then work as hard as possible to prove your worth.

amother

Sun, Sep 22 2013, 1:36 pm

It really depends on a lot of factors. A big one is whether this is a "career" job or a pure "earn some money" job. Are you trying to build yourself a reputation in a high-skill/knowledge-economy type job and/or hoping to climb the ladder with your current employer? Or are you in a lower-skilled, easily filled position with little upward mobility?

In the first situation, there is less risk and more upside to informing your employer as early as possible and being enthusiastic about working with management and coworkers to minimize the impact of your absence.

My experience was in an extreme version of the first type of situation. So I told my employer as soon as miscarriage was very unlikely, which was after a 10.5 week ultrasound showed everything OK. This was about 2 months before I was due to start. My employer very much appreciated the advance notice and has been able to plan accordingly for my leave, which will be quite long.

I don't think it was necessary to tell quite so early, but I think it would have been much more poorly received if I'd waited until I was almost showing (which was about 4.5-5 months), and would have put a small but noticeable dent in my professional reputation going forward.