Taking a New Job While Pregnant

214 Comments

1. Great topic! My husband and I are trying to conceive (fingers crossed for this month!). I start clerking w/ a federal judge in the fall. If I do get pregnant this month, I’ll be due 6 months into the 1 year clerkship. After the clerkship, I’ll be going into big law, so we figured it’s best to try to have a baby while I’m clerking. I’m still trying to figure out how to approach the judge when/if I do get pregnant. Obviously 1 year is short as it is, so I don’t want to take a lot of time off. Would it be appropriate to ask for 6 weeks (2 weeks vacation, 4 unpaid)? I’m lucky to be near the family so my mother-in-law would be watching the baby afterwards. Thoughts appreciated ladies!!

   1. I never clerked for a judge, but I can’t imagine it would be inappropriate at any job to ask for 6 weeks leave.

   2. I’ve wondered about this. I didn’t even feel comfortable taking a vacation during my one-year clerkship (“I’m only here for a year!”). I mean, I imagine that the work environment is more conducive to a work-life balance than something like Biglaw, but you’re only there for a year–doesn’t it look so much worse to take a chunk out of a finite one-year period rather than out of an indefinite commitment?

      1. I don’t think it makes a difference. You’ve accrued the time and are entitled to take it. Not everyone goes to law school right after undergrad, so for some people waiting until after a clerkship to start a family may not be the best choice. I can see where asking for 6 months out of a yearlong clerkship might pose a problem, but 6 weeks should be fine. In Florida the state benefits give you your sick/vacation up front so a clerk here would have enough time to take most/all of a 6-week maternity leave paid.

   3. I have a one-year clerkship for a state appellate judge, and I know that one of the previous term clerks has taken maternity leave. I’m guessing that her co-clerk (my judge has 2 clerks at a time) took on some extra work, and it’s possible the judge was assigned less cases during that time or other clerks were assigned to help the judge on some of his cases.

      I think it really depends on the judge you work for–I mean, I don’t think that anyone would say “no you can’t” to a six-week leave, but some judges might not be happy about it and might not be as willing to help out the clerk with future employment, etc.

2. I’m amused by this:

   trust me: there are a million things to research once you’re pregnant — it’s been more time consuming than planning my wedding

   Yeah, creating a new human life is slightly more complicated than putting on a one day event.

3. As a Type A I’ve been doing a lot of research and prepping myself health wise with the plan of going off birth control sometime in 2011. From what I understand of the maternity leave policy here in Canada is that there’s actually two separate leaves that can be combined, 17 weeks pregnancy leave and 35-37 weeks parental leave. You’re entitled to take both whether full or part time and also whether your permanent or contract, you just have to be working with the employer for at least 13 weeks before the start of your leave. The leave policy is through the Governments Employment Insurance, as people have already said, and they cover a % of your pay up to about $450/week (don’t know the exact number, but I think I’m rounding down). You can take pregnancy leave while you’re still pregnant or after the baby’s born and the parental leave can be shared between you and your partner.

   My excellent employer actually tops me up to 90% of my pay including my benefits and pension for 26 weeks, after that I just get EI and pay my benefits and pension out of pocket if I want to continue them for the next 26 weeks. As for regular vacation, I’m still with in my first 5 years of service so I get 1.5 days/months which works out to 15 days/year plus statutory holidays, and because I work for a University I actually get another 8-10 days at Christmas when the whole University closes. Oh, also the whole University goes on administrative Summer hours in from Canada Day to Labour Day and we work 1/2 less every day.

   1. And any medical bills, say from trashing downtown Van, are covered!

      1. Hahaha, fortunately for me I’m not in BC and I am completely indifferent towards hockey.

4. In answer to the original reader question, she ABSOLUTELY should discuss her pregnancy with her potential new employer, especially if she’ll be out half of the two-year assignment! In general, however, I hear that it’s very tough going looking for a new job while pregnant, so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you could swing living on one income.

5. Here’s a related question: I started my current job 15 months ago, and it was a new position for me after the birth of our oldest/only. We’re about to start trying for #2. When my 1st kid was born, I only had to deal w/telling my boss (at my old job), but now I supervise 2 departments (7 people total, including 4 direct reports and 3 more under them). Any tips for telling your staff? Individually or as a group?

6. Why does having a baby have to be about placing blame and figuring out who gets screwed? Having babies is, quite literally, just a fact of life. Have them, don’t have them, start trying to have them or whatever when you and your partner are ready. The only thing you owe your employer is to give ample notice of your due date, work out a return date and keep coming to work for as long as you expect to be paid until then. You should try to have babies when you are ready to receive them into your life, not when it is convenient for your employer. Lots of things are inconvenient to your employer; it’s not your job to arrange your life to try to make that immutable fact somehow your responsibility.

   1. This. Oh, I agree with you so much it hurts.

   2. This is refreshing. Thanks — I needed to hear this.

   3. Yes to everything you said.

   4. Of course its a woman’s right to have a child whenever she wants. But having a child does change a woman’s life in profound ways, including her relationship with her job. And maternity leaves and part-time work (which I do, by the way, because I have two kids) also have a significant impact on the way an office works. All actions have consequences and to say do what you want, consequences be dammed, seems a bit short-sighted. Do what you want, be aware of the consequences, and make sure that you can live with them.

7. Weighing in late on this discussion because despite the fact that I think many of the posters here have advanced degrees, one extremely important issue has not been raised. As someone with a PhD, I entered the workforce around the age of 30 (late 20’s, early 30’s is fairly common for PhD holders). In many ways during grad school may have been the ideal time for having kids (except financially), but I didn’t get married until after defending…like many people. So giving advice that women shouldn’t job hunt while trying to get pregnant and/or should wait at least a year into a new position until having children is placing the fertility and chance of ever having children of women with PhD’s at extreme risk. Especially given that academics (at least in the sciences) often do a short-term 2-3 year post-doc (or a couple) before finding a permanent job. I am not in academia any longer, but I did do a post-doc which, among other things, made me much better qualified for my current permanent position. I’m 33, and one of the few people I started grad school with who has a permanent job.

   I completely agree that it’s important to be as up front with your employer as reasonable about pregnancy. That said, the reason you don’t make pregnancies public during the first trimester is that the risk of miscarriage (at any age) is high. I don’t think that an employer deserves special notification that you wouldn’t even give your own family in this regard. And saying that the potential impact for a few months (or even up to a year) on a woman’s productivity due to having children makes a woman a less attractive employee perpetuates the idea that women don’t belong in the workplace at all. The real problem is just that, medically, women often need leaves early in their careers when they are less established. By contrast, as my godmother who is a physician always points out, statistically men take more medical leaves later in their careers due to things like heart disease at a time when they are much higher paid and have greater responsibilities…i.e. the impact on their employers is much higher over their lifetime.

   There are practical matters to consider with regard to your employer. But trying to get pregnant can take a long time (5+ months and still trying, it took my sister 3 years…). The advice I’ve gotten from everyone who has had kids at any career stags is that when you are ready to have kids, don’t wait because you don’t know what will happen and you will regret not having them way more than you will regret anything else.

8. While I’m not in favor of Reader S taking a two year temp position knowing that she’ll be out one of those years (if that is indeed the case, I didn’t have time to read all the posts), I have the following food for thought. Yes, it does take some people just a month or so of doing it the old fashioned way…. and then for some of us it takes A LOT more effort.

   I just started a new job and did an IVF cycle between interviewing and getting the offer. The cycle failed. Another coworker of mine who is also new is waiting for the results of her IVF cycle. Sometimes you can’ t put your life on hold for a new job.

9. Take the job, don’t even hesitate. People do this all the time in government. Once they make you the offer, tell them about the pregnancy, but accept the position. They can’t retract or back out – human rights issue. They will find someone to backfill you for the year. I know a woman at my old employer who left for mat leave after only working 2 months at the new job. Just do it. This is the ‘perk’ of government work.

10. Ladies do what’s best for you, just be honest with the employer at the right time. Seriously, we need to be more self-protective and assertive. The employers will be fine. Life is life.

    If you make decisions around their preferences or needs, you might be sad later. I waited for a long time for my own preferences, then got ill for a few years and am still recovering, and am now 34 1/2 so trying to conceive because of the time clock. My doctor does not say it is high risk at this point yet despite some of the comments above, but clearly the sooner the better. But I realize it may take months/years or never, there might be miscarriages, etc. frankly wish I’d done it in my 20’s. You never think you might get ill or whatever. Point being, who cares if you will miss some time at work. Then again, I’m in the stingy US with 6 weeks, not a crazy year off like CA. Nonetheless, do not put your LIFE on hold for some dumb, routine set of cases or whatever that frankly many others can do just fine while you are out. I am very career driven, but see now the other side of the coin and the risks involved.

11. This post has great timing. I’m going to be 37 this year and we’d been trying for a 2nd child for 6 mths now, figuring I’d get preggers by the end of my work assignment (we rotate every 3/4 years) – which is what we did for #$1 – and no one would be affected work-wise.

    Well, I got internally “head hunted” for a great job that I accepted. It all took 3 weeks for offer to be signed and sealed. I could be pregnant now, for all I know.

    Will I stop trying? No. Did I ask to move at this tricky time? No (though I accepted the new role anyway).

12. This very thing happened to us one month ago. We are extremely short-handed, and have been without this key position for several months. We are in Hawaii, and of course, many candidates could not afford to fly here for their interviews. Therefore, we skyped those individuals who had made the top five cut.

    We were happy with our choice and desperate for her arrival. She arrived last month, 8 months and 1 week pregnant. She is in her late twenties, and unmarried.

    Of course, we had never asked during the interviews. Not legal, not proper, not nice. But NONETHELESS, we really felt she had withheld critical information. Now, after less than one month of employment she wants to go on a 3 -4 month leave. What she did was legal, but she really hit a wrong note here. She is unmarried, and, well, it never entered our minds. (Archaic thinking, I know.) And we are stuck again without a key employee. Having never had a child, she completely understimates the exhaustion, the stress, the brain fog, etc, that is her immediate future. And, she has no kin here, and no day care plans.

    So, rant over. But, I’m not a happy surfergirl here. And last word of advice, do a full-body skype and not just a head shot :} when you have employment interviews.

    1. Wow, wish I could have her job.
       No kids here and I would love Hawaii.

13. Does anyone know anything about this? Someone told me that some women become temporarily less intelligent during pregnancy. I am pretty sure that this never happened to me. Any thoughts?

    1. According to pregnancy books, brain volume decreases during pregnancy which is what causes the forgetfulness so many women experience.

14. I didn’t look for a job because I wanted to get pregnant and the job I was in was extremely flexible, though annoying in a lot of ways.

    Two miscarriages and a year and a half later, in the same job, the work was drying up. I was pregnant again and had to start interviewing, pregnant or no. It was abundantly clear that I couldn’t count on my job to support me, even in the immediate future. I didn’t ask at interviews about maternity leave policies; I didn’t give any indication that I was pregnant. I felt pretty strongly, after my two miscarriages, that I didn’t want to tell anyone at work about being knocked up until I had a pretty good idea that pregnancy number 3 would stick.

    I had a pretty good interview right after my first prenatal when the doctor told me there was no heartbeat. I had a really good interview a week later when the pill I had taken four days earlier to induce miscarriage was finally working. I was a little curled over on myself from the cramping; apparently they just thought I had bad posture.

    Both places offered me jobs; I took the latter. I don’t have a baby to look forward to anymore, but I am so, so gratified to finally have challenging work again. Additionally, the maternity policy at my new job is a lot better than at the old job. Finally, the pay is better. Finding this job will make having a baby, if that is in store for me, more possible than it was.

    1. Good luck to you anonymous, you sound like a very strong woman. I had two miscarriages before my first child, and I remember excrutiatingly well how hard it was.

15. My pregnant cousin reminded me: “There’s never a good time.” You just have to go for what is good for you and your family. I think it’s respectable to inform your future employer; start on the right foot with your boss and colleagues. People in my office definitely get snarky when they talk about covering other people’s work while they were out on leave–even really nice people who I respect and consider as friends. But really any leave causes a ripple in the office, whether it’s maternity or other medical.

    Cousin, 31, expected it could take time to conceive, but was pregnant within 3 weeks of ditching her BC. No morning sickness. May we all be so lucky. An attorney in my office was on bedrest for a time, had a lot of complications (not just causing discomfort, distraction, and stress, but frequent daytime doctor’s appointments throughout the pregnancy).

    For me, money is a concern. I wouldn’t be willing to take unpaid leave at this point, so in state government I need a few years to bank my sick leave. A lot of this just depends on your relationship with your employer and their expectations. When you’re an excellent employee and a great mind, any initial awkwardness over an “early” leave will dissipate when you return and rock the house.

16. As a Canadian and former govt. employee, i say take the job, don’t disclose until you have the offer. In Canada it’s a known thing that women take one year maternity leaves… If you don’t take it, there’s a good chance someone else planning to take a mat or pat leave will. The two year term could be renewed or extended. This is government, not a mom and pop shop; they are accustomed to dealing with this situations frequently.

17. I am the OP and just wanted to let you all know I told the employer that I was interested and that I was pregnant so I didn’t think it was fair for me to accept the position (Note: I was not pregnant when I had the interview. Government hiring can take forever). However, he is going to talk to his superiors to see if I am able to start in dec 2012 instead. It will mean slightly less pay for the position (but still more than I am making now). I will have an answer by Tuesday of next week. I’ll keep you all posted. Thanks for the comments and advice.

    1. Oh good, I hope something can be worked out.

18. How you handle the interview makes a big difference. My husband hired a woman who was six-months pregnant. I was kinda shocked since I don’t know if I would have in his place (and we have kids). He said he liked how she was up front about it and he had a good feeling about her. He was right. She’s one of his highest-performing employees even though she’s had two pregnancies since he hired her.

19. I absolutely think it is fine to be looking if you are trying to get pregnant and/or starting a new job. You (hopefully) plan to stay for the long term.

    That being said, the situation described above is a bit unusual, being a “contract” type of job. Expecting to be “gone” one whole year of what is only a two-year job seems not be a good idea for the career and is quite different from a place you intend to stay at for a long time. She should inform them of her condition and/or plan not to take as much maternity leave if she really wants that particular position.

20. I understand feeling time pressure about wanting to be pregnant now, and also the enormous range of time in which this might actually happen. So I’d say it’s not necessarily a good idea to stop a job search, if you need one, while you’re trying to get pregnant or thinking about it.

    BUT, this woman isn’t trying, she’s actually pregnant already. If I were an employer and hired someone who’s already pregnant, without disclosure, I’d be really mad, and her future at my company would be very limited. Would you not mention a health problem that will certainly limit your ability to do the job? “I have to get my appendix out next week, and I’ll be out for a month after that”. There are legal obligations, and then there are ethical ones – an employee who took a job without honestly disclosing long periods of disability is definitely guilty of the latter.

    In this particular case, the 2 years seem a particularly short period to accommodate a pregnancy. On the other hand, I think it’d be perfectly legitimate to say ‘ you took so long to respond, I didn’t think this was still open. As it happens, I got pregnant in the meanwhile’ and see how they respond. If this is a regular 2-year cycle of positions, I’d imagine such open discussion might well guarantee you a spot for the next cycle. And if not, that’s the breaks, your career will not be the same with a child anyway, so you may as well start now to adapt to the changes.

    1. Wow, it is very discouraging and disappointing that so many commenters believe it is acceptable to discriminate against a pregnant woman in the terms and conditions of employment, even though it is basically illegal under federal and (most) state law. Sad.

21. I’m somewhat surprised by the responses to this post.

    FWIW, you never know what’s going to happen. I billed 16 hour days from bed in the hospital while having pregnancy complications. I took the entire materinity leave (18 weeks) and had people snark about how I was never coming back and not committed behind my back. I billed 2500 hours the year I came back from materinity leave (yes, it sucked), and handed the baby over to husband /parents / nanny / daycare (we had to have both) to jump on planes at a moment’s notice. When I slipped a disc in my neck, then, for the first time, did I really have to be totally out, leaving everyone in the lurch.

22. I really appreciate everyone’s comments and insights. Perhaps you could all help me a bit?

    My husband (30) and I (27) have been married for three years. We started talking family when we got married and the usual questions were asked about our procreation schedule, and decided that we’d like to have a few years of it being just us. We also are/were in our 20’s and cherished being able to spontaneously go out of town for the weekend, crash with a friend if we went out and got a bit silly, and all of the other freedoms that come before having a child (watching my sister pack up her 15-month-old for a picnic was a real eye-opener!). We look at child-rearing as a full-time commitment, a life-changer, and believe that it should be. So, we decided that 2012 would be the year.

    Fast-forward to March 2011, I was laid off from my non-profit job. I had been planning for maternity leave, both with my supervisor and health and disability insurance company, to determine optimal timing. Now, I am looking for a job, haven’t had much success, but still very much want to have a baby next year.

    I know that my baby-making plans are on hold, at least until I have a stable, steady job, but how much time do I really need to put in with a new company or organization before we start trying? I’m a hard worker, very smart and a fast learner and have always been an over achiever. In the past, I’ve been diligent about assigning tasks and responsibilities in my absences, whether for a wedding and honeymoon, or annual vacation or prolonged illness and have a history of checking in after hours (our HQ was in a different time zone), while on paid leave, etc, just to be sure that no one ran into any problems or had any questions. I did this because I loved my job and took it seriously and genuinely WANTED to check in, never because I felt it was expected of me.

    So, what’s an unemployed, wannabe mom to do?

23. Canada is very different from the U.S. – there is no ‘financial hardship’ to the company unless they top up your benefits, government job or otherwise. You pay into EI so that you can take your full year of mat leave and still buy groceries. Not taking the money if you know you are going to continue staying home is not the same ethical dilemma here as it is in the U.S.

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25. Obviously if you are 4 + months pregnant you should tell your employer, if not in the interview, then when offered the job and before you accept. Who would want to work in a place that would be hostile towards you when are pregnant? However, I don’t think if you are “trying” to have a baby or if you find out shortly after you are hired that you are pregnant, that you should be that big of a deal. It is what it is people. Get over it. If someone didn’t tell you they were pregnant they were probably incredibly fearful of being discriminated against.

26. Well, this is always a tricky subject. A new hire in our small department announced her pregnancy one week before she started her new job. While this is her legal right, this situation has lots of unintended consequences. Her new colleagues feel exploited, as she is out with lots of appointments. As a new person, there is a lack of good will and loyalty to her as people will be covering for her during her maternity leave (of 8 weeks, as she is not entitled to 12 weeks under the FMLA as she is a new employee) and return to work. I think that a job hunter has every right to keep preganancy under wraps, but it does not engender goodwill and loyalty with one’s new colleagues or supervisor. Tread cautiously.

27. I’ve been at my current state government position for 5 years. I was looking for a new job, but after a year of few call backs for jobs I applied for but didn’t even really want, my husband and I decided I should stay where I am and we should try for a baby. I have the blessing of working from home which would be great. I’d still need daycare for an infant because my work day is very scheduled with important conference calls that cannot be moved, but a one year-old is manageable. It worked out great with my first. Anyway, we starting trying to conceive this month and low and behold, that’s when I got a call back for the one and only job I’ve applied for in the last year and a half that I’m actually interested in! (I applied a while back but the day after I turned in my application, they removed all job post openings–so I assumed they changed their mind about hiring) Now I’m confused. I have an interview for an administrative law judge position I’d love to have, but what if I’m pregnant now and don’t know it yet? I was laid off by a private employer with my first child for being pregnant. I don’t want to go through that again. Still, if offered the job, I likely wouldn’t know if I was pregant from the last month of trying for a couple of weeks at best. If I’m not pregnant and get the job, do I stop trying? Wait at least 3 months to keep trying so I won’t be noticeably pregnant during my 6 month probationary review? Not take this awesome opportunity and stay at my current job so I don’t have that worry and get great maternity leave? These opportunities don’t come along very often…HELP.

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