My company is being bought - obligations on pregnancy disclosure?

[Anonymous]

The company I work for is being bought by a much larger company and I will be expected to sign the documents regarding my salary and employement in the next few days -- the same few days during which I expect to find out if I am pregnant.

Do I have any obligation to disclose this? What if I sign and then three days later find out I'm pregnant? Do I have to speak up?

Also, the new company has a great maternity policy, but I have no idea if I will qualify since I won't have been there a year. Am I just out of luck or is there any recourse since I was not a new hire but rather brought on my acquisition??

[Anonymous]

No need to say anything. Best that you don't. Find out about the maternity policy once you know whether you'll be needed it.

[Anonymous]

1. You do not need to disclose that you are pregnant. Think of it like you are interviewing for a job - you do not need to disclose.

2. Their policy on maternity is their policy. Depending on how they treat the new employees, it may or may not apply to you. My experience is that most companies count your tenure with your previous company for these items. When you become an employee you will find out all of the details.

[Anonymous]

Do not disclose. In fact given the purchases I have personally been impacted by, if you are pregnant, I would hold off telling any work related people for as long as possible. As pp mentioned ususally tenure gets counted in a purchase so it should be based on however long you have been with the company being bought.

[Anonymous]

Do not disclose! I hate to even bring this up but many pregnancies end in miscarriage. You have no obligation to tell them anything until you are further along and more confident about the pregnancy.

[Anonymous]

You might check to see if your benefits/qualifications carry over. If you qualified under your old company. perhaps you are grandfathered in with the new company.

[Anonymous]

No, you have no obligation, nor should you tell.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely agree with the PPs who say don't tell. In my experience, sometimes benefits/tenure carry over for purposes of insurance and benefits and sometimes not, so don't assume. Listen very carefully when you get information about benefits and the like. If it is available, you may need to pick up COBRA coverage for any gap period if you don't get continuous coverage.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the don't tell sentiment. Until they have an information session for employees, you likely will not be able to tell what is going to happen. Even in large public company acquisitions where the purchase agreements are publicly filed, the purchase agreement often does not spell out what will happen with these sorts of issues. There is generally some sort of soft covenant about providing generally equivalent coverage, if there is any commitment by the purchaser at all. Just sit tight and let it play out for now.

[Anonymous]

wouldn't disclose. if you're currently insured and have no gaps, it shouldn't affect your health insurance eligibility or coverage.

And worst case, you take a shorter maternity leave and depending on your state, it might be covered by disability. I hadn't been at my company long enough to qualify for maternity benefits, but I got 6 weeks at 2/3 pay through disability (in VA) and they were nice enough to hold my job for me.