No job for you pregnant girl
When I found out I was pregnant with Keaton I was working third shift as a Certified Nurses Aide in a nursing home specializing in Alzheimer’s patients. Much of the night was spent checking on residents and helping them to the bathroom if needed. But in the morning we had to help them up, get them dressed and out to the dining hall for breakfast. There was a lot of lifting involved. Many people can probably continue to do that work throughout their pregnancy, but I wasn’t up for it. Before I was pregnant I could come home and sleep a few hours and be good. But when I got pregnant I was exhausted all the time and couldn’t handle third shift anymore. So I quit.
I decided I wanted to work a nice day job, maybe answering phones or something. I was only nineteen and my only education up to that point was a high school diploma and my CNA certification. So my options were pretty limited.
I signed up with a temp agency to find me a job. They sent me on several short-term jobs that were fine, but I was also looking for a full-time job with benefits. I had health insurance, but I was paying out of pocket for it so something cheaper would have been nice. Every day I scoured the classifieds and sent out tons of resumes.
Finally I got a bite. I set up an interview for a receptionist job at a chiropractic office. It wasn’t glamorous, but it sounded good to me. I wasn’t being choosy. It was full-time with benefits and the hours were during the day…my only three requirements.
By that point I was around seven months pregnant and had quite a little baby bump going on. I was well in to the stage requiring maternity clothes. So I put on a pair of nice khaki pants and a pretty flowery maternity shirt and made my way to the interview.
I interviewed with an older lady with silvery white hair. The second I stepped in the door and saw the look on her face I knew I would not be offered the job. She was looking right at my pregnant belly and she was obviously shocked. I’m pretty sure she was hoping I would just turn around and leave, but we continued with the interview anyway.
During the interview she told me the hours would be from 10am to 7pm with an hour lunch break. She asked me if I was that was ok with me. That sounded good to me since I’m not really a morning person anyway. Then she asked me if my husband would be fine with that. I said, “I’m not married.” That cinched it. No job for me. Not only was I pregnant, but I wasn’t married. Obviously I was the devil incarnate…according to her.
We quickly wrapped up the interview and I was on my way. I never heard back from them. And I was not at all surprised.
I know just what you mean! When I was looking for another job, it was very early on in my pregnancy. I went through a few interviews, and they seemed to like me very much. Aside from a question about whether I intended to expand my family in the near future (to which I answered no, because, hello, I’ve already acted on that intention, so it is an intention no more), I thought all was going well. I got the phone call one day that I had gotten the job! Somehow, don’t ask me how, probably out of some sick sense of honesty, I let it slip that I was indeed pregnant. One hour later, yes, just one hour, I got a call that I no longer had the job but that some woman from another city (this was a job with the county) wanted to transfer, and she got priority. So coincidental that she all of the sudden wanted the job after they found out I was pregnant. Yeah, right.
The only place I could find a job when I was pregnant, was a place that specializes in hiring and teaching skills to young people who had something stopping them from getting a job. Such as no diploma, being pregnant, but MOST of the kids there were felons. Some had even served time for murder! I worked in the office. Needless to say, I didn’t stay after my son was born.
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This is quite disturbing! It is illegal (and has been for a while) to inquire as to 1) whether someone is married (much less pregnant) and 2) to not hire someone because of their pregnancy. I think that the “do you intend to expand your family” question is blatantly illegal too.
Unfortunately it is hard to prove - but I bet Stephanie would have had a hiring discrimination case because government jobs are definitely covered by all anti-discrimination laws. And, once a firm offer has been made it cannot be easily withdrawn legally.
I was let go from the job I had previous to applying for that job the day after I found out I was pregnant. The company had recently been bought out, and they were downsizing, and lots of people were being let go. Strangely, though, I was the only hourly person let go. Everyone else was in higher level salary positions. I did go to a lawyer on that one, but was given the run around and just got tired of it. I did manage to get a receptionist job while pregnant, but was let go from that job right after giving birth because they claimed I had too many absenses. I told them before I was hired that I was pregnant and would be going to the doctor frequently. Plus I only took 6 weeks unpaid absense immediately after my daughter’s birth. I fought to get unemployment on that one and lost. Fortunately, I got hired soon afterward at the state and things have been great since. I currently work in the city government which pays even better than the state.
The county department I applied to is full of backwoods rednecks who are prejudiced and sexist, and I am glad I did not get hired on. They are constantly in the local paper acting like complete fools. Not to mention that they are crooks and their families get rich off city contracts because they are on the commission. But I’m not bitter.
I had the opposite experience. I found a job in a psychiatrist’s office through a temp agency when I was about 5 months pregnant. They were very accommodating and even held the spot for me when I went into pre-mature labor 6 weeks early and had to go on bed rest. After I had Brendon and my maternity leave was over, I went back to work there. I got pregnant again when Brendon was 6 mths old. I took another job that paid a little better but when it didn’t work out for child care and sharing one vehicle, they took me back. I asked them to make me a permanent employee but they wanted to wait a little while since I had left them once before (that was fair). I ended up leaving early in that pregnancy and was a stay-at-home mom ’til Dallas was a little over a year old.
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[...] The Gossip Girls at (c) gossipgirls.com wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptShe was looking right at my pregnant belly and she was obviously shocked. I’m pretty sure she was hoping I would just turn around and leave, but we continued with the interview anyway. During the interview she told me the hours would be … [...]
That is horrible! No wonder we need laws regulating the workforce. Some people are just ignorant!
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I know what you meant, and I’m not even pregnant! The reason why I say that is because I gained weight and have a belly that makes me look like I’m around 5 months pregnant, so I get the round around at interviews with questions like “are you sure you will be around for more than one year”? I get stangers come up to me asking me if I’m pregnant and how many months.
So much for law! They’ll tell you stuff like, “thank you” and “good luck” and how they went with a better candidate vs you.
You have to watch out for illegal job interview questions.
Asking about marriage or even if your pregnant, and things which have no sway on how you perform your job. You probably could have sued them for just that. I once came close to sue becuase of age-isim, I was 20 and applying for jobs fresh out of college. my experience was not that great, but they worded it as “your sort of young arn’t you”, and then went on mentioning that I wasnt married, and descriminated that way.
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I have been looking for people who are in this situation for awhile. I was laid off with 64% of my company’s workforce (including every employee at my local branch) at 5 months pregnant. Because of that I am on unemployment… and it looks like I will be for quite awhile. I am an engineer, a professional, and highly qualified, and have always gotten every job I interviewed for. Somehow, 2-1/2 months later and after 6 interviews now, though, I have come up completely empty-handed.
Because of my first son’s health problems I have to work. I live in an old house we bought two years ago that was in very good condition compared with others in the area we had considered. But last year at his 1st birthday my son had elevated lead blood levels and we discovered lead was still everywhere inside and out -the county required us to complete lead abatement and control with a final pricetag of $35,000. We could not just sell the house; we had a county order to solve the problem and abided by that. Then this Spring my son developed allergies that culminated in breathing problems, and we had to get a leaky roof and chimney replaced - pricetag $7,200. My husband and I just graduated from school and have hefty student loans. The financial burden of the large unexpected expenses is just too onerous not to have two real incomes. So I’m in a real bind with people making the decision FOR me that I shouldn’t work.
Employers can come up with so many excuses… it is hard to prove discrimination is taking place. People will seem excited when they talk to me - we will even make work plans together (I’m in R&D), and then I never hear from them again like they went back to their offices and thought “Oh wait, she’s pregnant. What was I thinking?” And they don’t know how to deal with that in a civilized way, so they just don’t bother to call back at all. This is really irksome. The latest I have been getting though is the DELAY (with the bigger companies that have a more formal hiring practice and an HR person to navigate for them) - “We need to take a look at some other candidates in the next few weeks.” Translate: “You’re the most qualified but we can’t possibly hire you. We’ll just extend the period of time that we are looking so as not to get caught in a legal trap.” Reality: People have never delayed hiring me in the past - they have always snatched me up once they met me -and I “should” be more attractive than I have ever been because of some recent employment, education, and volunteer experience. I’m still the reasonable, level-headed, smart and friendly person I’ve always been too - though tired at the point I am writing this post… I’ve lost more than a night’s sleep over this stuff.
The whole experience is just embarrassing, frustrating, and impoverishing. I’ve come to the conclusion that yes, I am being discrimnated against but more fundamentally I have become acutely aware we have an absent federal family leave insurance in the United States and that makes for a lot of sick and tired new parents and kids. Maybe it is not appropriate to put the burden on a potential employer. The U.S. is one of only 4 countries in the entire world that does not provide family leave insurance for the birth of a child; the other three are Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Latovia.
In my case, I will stay on unemployment insurance until my child is born. Then, the day I leave the hospital, I suppose I will have to say I am “physically and mentally able to work” and commence a job search that will be all the more urgent because my unemployment insurance will have nearly run out. Shouldn’t the weeks after a child’s birth be time devoted entirely to bonding with/ caring for the child?
To other nations it is obvious that taking care of citizens around the birth of a child is an investment in the future of the country, one that keeps a society healthy in so many ways. It boggles my mind that the “wealthiest” country in the world has such an impoverished view on the health and welfare of young families and total myopia on how a little investment here will translate into a well-balanced society in the future (fewer folks in prison, less antisocial behavior, more happy people, more people contributing). I can’t help but to think there’s not some remnant and even overt racism and sexism deep in the American psyche somewhere at work here too. I wonder if the lack of a real comprehensive social welfare system is a byproduct in large part of slavery and casting people to the wind…