My story started with me being self employed and setting up a successful technical procurement business, but after a few years of running it, I married my business partner and decided working with him and living with him wasn’t what I wanted so I started applying for jobs in companies. I got interest from a company who were very interested in my experience, and my interview involved me presenting a full business model of my company and what the business did and how it became so successful. Naturally I focused on the most relevant areas for the job I was applying for, pumping technology and talked in depth about technical pumping systems we’d procured. I got offered the job and promptly sent a signed letter of disclosure to HR informing them I was still a director of another company.
I worked in this new job for two years. Within that time I got promoted and a pay rise. I was praised throughout and worked closely with the MD who I reported to directly. I got pregnant in September 2014 (I joined the company in Sept 2012). I was managing a huge project and quickly calculated that my due date meant I would not be able to launch this product at a trade show the following year- a massive milestone. I therefore decided to disclose my pregnancy early when I was around 9 weeks pregnant – also because I was flying around to different countries and was concerned for health reasons.
After disclosing my pregnancy I noticed a change in the managers attitude towards me, although at the time I did not recognise what was happening. I got pulled on my punctuality to the office- which had never happened before, I got put down for my presentations in a very derogatory manner, which id always been praised for, the red flag should have been when the MD asked me if I wanted to have an abortion, but I was too naïve to realise what was happening and within 3 weeks of disclosing I was pregnant, I was suspended. The reason was a conflict of interest because I was a director of my own company. I was absolutely floored, I cried through the whole meeting of the MD asking me to leave my company laptop and credit card and how it’s procedure until they can investigate me. I’d done absolutely nothing wrong, I was 12 weeks pregnant and instead of being excited I was ashamed and embarrassed to leave my house for fear of having to explain to my friends and family why I wasn’t at work.
Being pregnant was scary enough but the prospect of losing my job and not being able to afford my mortgage absolutely petrified me. I somehow found the strength to disputed the claims against me, and raise my own grievances, but after three months of suspension – this point being 6 month pregnant and meetings and meetings of them trying to find any shred of my non existent wrong doing, I accepted a settlement offer and signed and NDA. I was too exhausted, emotional and heartbroken by their betrayal to fight it anymore.
After having my son, I got severe post natal depression, brought on by all the stress and anxiety I experienced throughout my pregnancy and made worse by the crippling fear of trying to find a new job and explains why I ‘left’ while 6 month pregnant. My confidence was knocked and I ended up taking a job which was in a completely different industry out of fear that the engineering sector would treat me the same. It took me years to be strong enough to get my confidence and my career back on track and I’m now in a company who have the best attitude to working mums. I have my happy ending, but still carry the fear of work place discrimination when I have my second child, this time I’m adopting so I’ll be going on leave with little notice! I’m hopeful I’ll get better treatment this time, but it’s taken me years to realise and accept that having a baby is nothing to feel guilty about while trying to have a career.
