They withdrew the job offer after finding out my wife is pregnant - I seriously can't believe it
Hi, I've been out of work for 14 months, but I also wasn't actively looking for a job. I was staying at home looking after the kids; my children are 6 and 3 years old.
I recently started applying again, and I got an offer for a job that seemed good in the public sector after a long process of 4 stages of interviews. I accepted the offer, but I hadn't said during the interviews that my wife is eight months pregnant. As soon as the offer came through, I told them, and I was told: "Congratulations, no problem at all, we're a flexible employer," and that sort of thing.
They said their HR team would take a very long time to sort out the paperwork, so the start date would probably be very close to the due date, likely about 10 days before it. I asked them if we could delay it another 5 weeks - until around 3/4 weeks after the due date - because the baby could come early or late, and it obviously makes more sense for everyone to have a clear start date rather than me starting and then immediately needing leave or asking for time off.
The manager seemed completely fine with it, at least face to face. We met informally for coffee, walked around the place a bit, and I met some of the team. We agreed on a start date, shook hands, and I told him that if this was going to cause any problems, he should let me know and I'd start earlier. He told me not to worry, family comes first, and that it was just a small delay. I left feeling very reassured.
About a week later, I got an email(!) from the manager saying that "now that they were aware of my family circumstances," they felt I wasn't the right fit, and that they were withdrawing the offer. Surely this is discrimination, but should I just let it go and move on, or escalate it to senior management/HR/someone else?
I know people will say that if this is how they behave, why would I even want to work there? And that makes sense. But honestly, I'm still stunned by what happened, and now I'm worried about how potential employers will view me as a young father who isn't working.