Last week I wrote about when do you tell work you’re pregnant and it sparked some interesting side conversations that I thought I would write about this week.
So … if you recall, I mentioned a friend of mine last week that was worried about telling her employer she was pregnant. Aside from the points mentioned last week, she feels she has a whole other element to worry about. She is concerned with her job stability in this tough economic environment. She works for a company that is potentially looking to make wide sweeping cuts and is worried about becoming a target. We discussed this for a while and concluded that her paranoid hormones were partially to blame. We both know that technically you can’t get laid off just because you are pregnant, and she has a proven track record of success so in theory, she should not have anything to worry about.
On the flip side, I had a situation when I was recently getting ready to go out on maternity leave. There was a job opening within my department, that given normal circumstances (i.e. if I wasn’t 9 months pregnant and getting ready to take 4 months off) would have been my ideal job. I discussed this with my boss and asked if there was any way they would still consider me for the position. Again, I could barely belly up to the table we were discussing this at because I was so hugely pregnant. So while I knew they couldn’t technically factor that into the interview process, I could not ignore the fact that I was asking for something that I could not commit to for another 4 months or so. My boss was overly careful not to even mention my pregnancy in any of those discussions and encouraged me to apply for the job. Ironically labor contractions started at the exact time of my first interview! To me that felt like a sign that the timing just wasn’t right personally and I pulled out of the running.
So, while I work for a very large company that is extremely sensitive to lawsuits, some may even say you actually gain job security when you are pregnant. However, I have heard of some instances where women ARE impacted at work the minute they announce they are pregnant – whether directly or indirectly or maybe even unintentional, it does happen.
So I thought I would do a little digging into what the laws are. Before I go any further, I just want to say – I am by no means an expert on any of this!! I know the laws vary based on employer as well as your individual status within a company (i.e. how many hours you work/how long you’ve been there). I strongly suggest you check with your HR department if you have any questions specific to your own situation or check out the links provided below.
You’ve probably heard of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but if you’re like me, you may not know exactly what it means or what you are entitled to. In a nutshell, FMLA provides eligible employees with up to 12 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year. Many employees also provide your normal pay for a portion of this time or you may be eligible for short term disability pay. FMLA also requires group health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if employees continued to work instead of taking leave (you do have to continue to pay your portion during the leave).
FMLA applies to your company if there are over 50 employees within 75 miles of the worksite, and at least 50 of your employees work 20 or more work-weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. If your company is a public agency, you are subject to provide FMLA regardless of the number of employees employed. All schools, private or public, are considered public agencies.
To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must work for a covered employer, have worked for that employer for at least 12 months; and have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of the FMLA leave.
For more detailed information, check out this site: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla
Hopefully this is helpful information if you are in a situation where you are pregnant and concerned with your status at work. If anyone has any additional information that would be beneficial, please share!
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13 comments
yes, FMLA provides protection while you are out, but being in HR , I can’t tell you how many times a woman has come back from pregnancy leave and is let go the day she comes back. It’s so unfortunate but all to real.
I’m here to tell you that it is VERY real. I was laid off when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with my first (gasp! horror!). My company was 49 big so they fell under very protected small business laws, aka, good ‘ole boys network as I like to call it. My company was undergoing lay-offs but I was the only one handled very differently, due to my pregnancy. The layoffs happened on a Monday when I was on vacation in FL attending my baby shower. When I called in to talk to the president who I had a great relationship with, he told me that mine was performance based (the only one out of the 12). My quick response was “do you typically reward your ill-performing employees with a 20% raise and a promotion, or just a promotion”? The part that I was and still am most angry with was not only did they take away my choice, but they took away the best work experience that I had on my resume. For the simple reason that they said mine was “performance-based.” I no longer could list the President of my agency as my reference nor anyone else on the management team. Personally, I don’t know how they get up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror. Such an amazing eye-opener for me at the lack of integrity of many people in the professional world. I would never treat a person that way. So my advice to you, look out for YOURSELF first. Plan for your family and what’s best for you. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there!
Jen is so right, look out for yourself! When I had my twins I had come complications that required me to be out for 4 months rather than 3. My employeer fired me when I did not come back on my 12wk date even though I had a doctors order saying that I was not able to return until 16wks. Needless to say, you have to look out for yourself and your family first!
A couple of comments to share:1) Jen P. was my Sup. at the time of the lay-off she references below. The bottom line is that they know, and we all know, her lay-off was NOT “performance based”!! It’s just unfortunate that we worked at a company where the management was unethical, unprofessional and dishonest.2) I also happened to be involved in the lay-offs. The blessing out of the whole terrible situation was that I went on to find a wonderful Agency to work at where people truly came first (not to mention they paid substantially more:)! I think this is rare to find in the Ad business. When I had my first baby, they worked out a situation to allow me to work part time in the office and at home. I ultimately had to leave to move for my husband’s job transfer, but companies DO exist that respect the fact that you can be a mom first, and an employee second.
I am horrified at these stories. I can’t believe this still goes on in today’s business environment. I feel so fortunate; my big Bank allowed me to take a leave of absence for 6 months with both of my children and I was able to return to my same job and got raises and promotions both times I was out. It must all depend on your department, manager, etc.
I too was fired from my job after my first child was born. When I came back to work EARLY from maternity leave, I was told my previous position had been filled, but that they had another position available for me. When my daughter was 8 weeks she was hospitalized for 4 days with a urinary tract infection, on the fourth day a relative died out of state. My husband (who worked for the same company) and i flew to the services, I returned to work on Monday and was fired on Friday morning. The reason given for my firing was defamation of character and insubordination. When I questioned what documentation or examples they had, they could provide nothing and just said “this is an at will employment state”. Like Jen, to this day, it just burns me up! The blessing from this though is that I have truly gotten the last laugh as the company transferred to the Charlotte area, and since my husband worked for them we got relocated for free, not to mention that the very people that were SO dishonest and unethical about me lost their jobs when the company moved and they were either not asked to relocate or chose not to. My parents ALWAYS told me that eventually everything comes full circle and people do have to answer for themselves and their actions…..it might take a while but it will happen, and that has proven to be true in my case. The company attorney, who was the ring leader of this “witch hunt” has lost his law license and been disbarred due to repeated unethical circumstances.
It definitely depends on your mgr. I was on a small team (4). A co-worker and I had due dates within a month of each other. I knew it was going to be hard for our team b/c the co-worker and I were most able to back-fill for each other. The mgr. solved her problem by ‘severing’ us both saying she needed to change the job descriptions and we were overqualified for the new positions – gotta love that one. The company (large bank – haha) at least gave us some extra weeks of severance pay probably trying to avoid a lawsuit. What goes around does come around as that mgr. was fired less than a month later. What does bug me is that the PTB who knew she was a poor mgr. didn’t stop her from mistreating us.
The examples above don’t give me a lot of faith that much has changed out there for working woman. In fact, I’m the friend Tracy wrote about who was grappling with the decision of WHEN to tell work this very week. I am about 15 weeks pregnant with my second child and knew I’d have to tell them soon. As of yesterday, I decided to tell my boss and co-workers. The conversation went VERY well. He indicated that this is “wonderful news” and since business is slower for us during this economic downturn, next spring will turn out to be a great time to take some time off. I felt a huge sigh of relief and realized I was being silly stalling to tell them my good news. The reality is, I work for a great company, one that cares deeply about it’s employees and values family immensely. It’s like I had temporarily forgotten about how my boss handled my first pregnancy. He worked with HR to make sure I was paid for as much of my leave as possible and never pressured me to return to work. (I took 12 weeks off). Then, about 4 weeks after returning to work, (while still breastfeeding) I had to travel to Florida on assignment for two weeks. The President of my company made sure my husband and baby traveled WITH me and they got me a two bedroom condo during those two weeks so we would be comfortable. (Thanks to my hubby for being a stay at home dad) =) I was able to do my job and continue breastfeeding. I was shocked of my company’s willingness to be so supportive of my family during that time. I am frustrated for those of you who have not been treated fairly during what should be the happiest moment of your life. There are many types of companies out there. I just wanted to give some hope that some of them value “family” more then others.
After hearing all of your stories, I am shocked at what goes on out there. I work for a small firm, and had been here for just shy of three years when my son was born more than 3 months premature. Not only did they give me my time off before he was born with I was on bedrest and after he was born by emergency c-section, but when he finally came home I still got my maternity leave. My company is very small, and the FMLA does not apply to my employer, so they very easily could have terminated me for basically being worthless for 6 months that year, but they didn’t.If you are terminated and you suspect it has to do with your pregnancy, especially if you’ve had an exemplary work record prior to your termination, I would encourage you to consult an attorney. You have rights, and while I’m not one to encourage lawsuits, it may take a couple of lawsuits or threats of a lawsuit to make these inappropriate employers realize they cannot do this.
It really is sad that this goes on. I am an HR professional who was “downsized” at 7 months pregnant. Fortunately, I received the ability to look for a new role within the (very large) company and the down size was not effecitve until 8 weeks after my return to work date. I did secure a new role in a better job but I know that is RARE. My advice is to look at how other women are treated when they have babies and plan ahead. Also – do not be afraid to inform your employer that they MUST return you to work if you return on time from FMLA. If they do not then you can file a complaint with the Employment Security Comission.
i no its a long shot but i was just wondering if anybody knows where I could find out the number of people who lost their jobs last year due to pregnancy or pregnancy issues? Thanks
here is a blog about women health pregnancy and tubal reversalhttp://www.mybabydoc.com/blog/
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