Wanting to be viewed as an eager and dedicated employee, Ellen immediately checked "Yes" to all the questions.

"I regret that to this day," says Ellen, who was hired and then fired eight months later when she informed her supervisor that she would need to leave work by 6 p.m. each day to pick up her son. "Other employees were asked to work late into the evening and refused. They weren’t fired. They fired me because I’d told them I was available to work any hours on my job application."

According to the department store, Ellen was not living up to the commitments she had made on her job application. They were right.

How does this apply to you? Many employees have child-care responsibilities that their employers are reluctant to tolerate. An employer cannot fire or discipline you solely because you have parental responsibilities, but can do so if you misrepresent your availability. Sometimes, if an employer gets fed up with a worker whose family responsibilities take him or her away from work, the employer might look to that employee’s job application or past performance reviews and ask, "Did this person inform us of these obligations prior to being hired or promoted?" If not, then you could be considered to be reneging on your part of the agreement.

It’s important that you disclose your unavailability. When you do disclose it, however, try to do so in a positive, graceful way. For instance, in reply to the question, "Can you work the hours required by this position?" don’t respond with, "My children come first!" Instead try, "Yes, I will generally be available and willing to work. On Friday afternoons, however, I would like some notice if I’ll need to be here past 5 p.m." In that case, you’ve put your employer on notice of your responsibilities, you have not made any promises you can’t keep, and yet you’ve indicated a willingness to work the schedule the company needs.

The next logical question is if you indicate that you are not available to work, why would an employer hire or promote you in the first place? The solution is to take a middle ground. Make sure you disclose any significant unavailability you might have, and don’t bother with the rest.