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“The Decision Is Perfectly Legal”: HR Rejects Candidate Because She’s 7 Months Pregnant
Hiring pregnant people can present some difficulties for employers. One major concern is the potential absences. Pregnant individuals may need to take time off for prenatal appointments or to deal with morning sickness or other similar issues. This can disrupt the workflow of a business, especially if we’re talking about a critical role — exactly what Reddit user Thrwwy was looking to fill.
So when one of her colleagues recommended a pregnant woman for the position, the HR manager found herself in a really tough spot. She wanted to find a solution that was best for both the candidate and the company but eventually ended up becoming the enemy of all. Unsure of how she handled it, the recruiter made a post on the popular subreddit ‘Am I the [Jerk]?‘, asking its members to evaluate her actions. Here’s what she wrote.
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This HR manager was looking for someone to fill an important role in the company
Image credits: Amina Filkins (not the actual photo)
But when a pregnant woman applied for the position, she found herself in a really tough spot
Image credits: Sora Shimazaki (not the actual photo)
Image credits: MART PRODUCTION (not the actual photo)
Image credits: thrwwy9911
According to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center, working while pregnant is becoming increasingly common. In the late 1960s, for example, just about 40% of women worked full-time during their first pregnancies, but by 2008 that figure rose to almost 60%. The report also said that eight in ten women (82%) worked until they were within one month of their due date.
However, finding a job while pregnant is a different thing. Legally speaking, there is no duty to tell potential employers that you’re expecting a baby. Heck, if you want, you can just arrive at the interview room a month away from your due date and not say a word about it. But that might not be the most effective strategy for succeeding if you actually get hired. So kudos to this applicant for being upfront.
Employers may not discriminate against job applicants due to pregnancy either. But that being said, going through the application process while pregnant can be tricky. If you managed to get a group of hiring managers to speak candidly, it’s likely that many would agree with the author of this post.
After all, compared to an applicant who has no need for extended periods of time off work, hiring a pregnant person will rarely look like the best business decision. This tension between what the law requires and what a prospective employer may be looking for can create problems for pregnant job hunters. But Lisa Guerin, the co-author of Dealing With Problem Employees: How to Manage Performance & Personal Issues in the Workplace, says that it’s very hard to prove discrimination in the hiring process.
“This is because potential employers aren’t required to tell applicants why they weren’t hired (or who was hired instead),” Guerin writes. “Besides, you are likely much more interested in getting a job than building up a lawsuit against a potential employer.”
Most people said that the HR manager didn’t act like a jerk
But some thought she could’ve handled the situation better
What do you think ?
Damira Balent 1 year ago
Oh come on YTA-ers... 😂 You have obviously never been pregnant. OP is in the right, absolutely. It's a high risk job that is phisically straining. You can't just do everything when you're pregnant because, no matter how fit you are, pregnancy is also very phisically demanding. You are growing another human inside, FFS! If pregnant women can do anything, why there is none of them roofing a house 😂 Be realistic! Greetings from a six months pregnant woman 😉
René Sauer 1 year ago
I think everyone calling OP TA did not read the whole thing. They just read " I didn´t hire a woman because she was pregnant" and went directly to the comments
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Casey McAlister 1 year ago
They would be TA if they hired her. A pregnant woman can work, but physically demanding job requiring a lot of movements from one place to another isn't a good match. It's not discrimination, it's common sense.
Jessica Olson 1 year ago
As someone that worked up to 3 days before birth in a physically demanding job (nursing), it's not the physically demanding part that is the issue. It's the remote areas, and she also wouldn't be allowed on a plane soonish. It sounds like the job has hours of hike (You're not physically limited to not be able to hike, but going into labor three hours up a mountain would be a problem), and sounds like it might be far from cities too. Ifa job removes their own employees from the position while pregnant than it makes no sense to hire someone you wouldn't let on the field. However she should have found a spot in the company for the woman. Nothing breeds long term loyalty like doing something like that when she obviously is in dire straights. As someone who was also job hunting at 9months pregnant (the actual job began 3 months later) and saw all the excitement drain from the managers face after I stood up, it's angering to be discriminated on on such a manner. And I'm in the US.
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Faith Treiss 1 year ago
The thought of obligatory paid months off when in America women have to fight for any leave at all at most places and some even get fired.
Phyzzi 1 year ago
And the sound of corporate parasites when someone suggests that "because I felt like it" shouldn't be the deciding factor in determining someone else's livelihood... of course if we had actual safety nets for people in the USA then we could probably shrug some of that other stuff off, but then the parasites couldn't gorge themselves into monsters.
Load More Replies... Damira Balent 1 year ago
Oh come on YTA-ers... 😂 You have obviously never been pregnant. OP is in the right, absolutely. It's a high risk job that is phisically straining. You can't just do everything when you're pregnant because, no matter how fit you are, pregnancy is also very phisically demanding. You are growing another human inside, FFS! If pregnant women can do anything, why there is none of them roofing a house 😂 Be realistic! Greetings from a six months pregnant woman 😉
René Sauer 1 year ago
I think everyone calling OP TA did not read the whole thing. They just read " I didn´t hire a woman because she was pregnant" and went directly to the comments
Load More Replies... Casey McAlister 1 year ago
They would be TA if they hired her. A pregnant woman can work, but physically demanding job requiring a lot of movements from one place to another isn't a good match. It's not discrimination, it's common sense.
Jessica Olson 1 year ago
As someone that worked up to 3 days before birth in a physically demanding job (nursing), it's not the physically demanding part that is the issue. It's the remote areas, and she also wouldn't be allowed on a plane soonish. It sounds like the job has hours of hike (You're not physically limited to not be able to hike, but going into labor three hours up a mountain would be a problem), and sounds like it might be far from cities too. Ifa job removes their own employees from the position while pregnant than it makes no sense to hire someone you wouldn't let on the field. However she should have found a spot in the company for the woman. Nothing breeds long term loyalty like doing something like that when she obviously is in dire straights. As someone who was also job hunting at 9months pregnant (the actual job began 3 months later) and saw all the excitement drain from the managers face after I stood up, it's angering to be discriminated on on such a manner. And I'm in the US.
Load More Replies... Faith Treiss 1 year ago
The thought of obligatory paid months off when in America women have to fight for any leave at all at most places and some even get fired.
Phyzzi 1 year ago
And the sound of corporate parasites when someone suggests that "because I felt like it" shouldn't be the deciding factor in determining someone else's livelihood... of course if we had actual safety nets for people in the USA then we could probably shrug some of that other stuff off, but then the parasites couldn't gorge themselves into monsters.
Load More Replies...
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