[phzbOx]

I know I'll probably get down-voted but.. isn't it unfair to take a new job and get away for 6 months for parenting purpose? And what about being lesbian.. why would a company not hire a women because of that?

I don't know, I somewhat believe that once you put something on the web, be it facebook or not, it's now public. Yeah, on my facebook I have pictures that I'd rather not show to any employers but if they choose not to hire me for that, I'd rather not work at a place like this.

But, while writing this, I kind of realised that not everyone is in my position.. and not everyone is as open minded to accept homosexuals.. so I guess I understand what it's unethical.

[T-hawk]

> isn't it unfair to take a new job and get away for 6 months for parenting purpose?

There's a number of answers to that:

1) Biology is unfair. Birthing a child obviously takes much more effort and time from the mother than the father. We have societally chosen to make up for that a little bit by giving the mother a legally protected break from job demands.

2) It should come out in the wash on the back end. When it's time for reviews and raises, the new mother has three or six months less of productivity and accomplishments, so it's natural and not discriminatory for her to receive less reward here.

3) Maybe it IS unfair and that's why companies would seek to avoid hiring likely-to-become-pregnant women if they were not legally barred from doing so.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle of all these, in different situations. Some women can bear a child and not miss a beat in productivity at a job. Some perhaps do use maternity leave as an excuse for a vacation.

[orangecat]

We have societally chosen to make up for that a little bit by giving the mother a legally protected break from job demands.

In which case we should collectively pay for it rather than dumping the burden on her employer, especially since as you note that creates a disincentive to hire any woman of childbearing age.

When it's time for reviews and raises, the new mother has three or six months less of productivity and accomplishments, so it's natural and not discriminatory for her to receive less reward here.

Her attorney might see things differently.

[vidarh]

> In which case we should collectively pay for it rather than dumping the burden on her employer,

And that's how it is in most of Europe, for example. But companies are still known to try to avoid it because of the hassle of getting a replacement for the duration of maternity leave.

[morsch]

Not everything you see when you log into your social media account is public information, and not everything you see was posted by you.

[excuse-me]

Yes it is unfair. And there are exceptions to discrimination laws for certain cases eg. for small companies, or time critical operations - similarly to exemptions for jury service.

If you make it clear in the interview that there is a deadline - we are working to a product launch in 6months and we need you to start immediately, and you took the job without telling them that you were immediately planning to take 6months off then the employer would have a pretty good case in most jurisdictions.