Remote Worker Reveals She’s 8 Months Pregnant 2 Days After Being Hired — And Is Now Eligible For A Year Of Paid Leave
"Maybe it's the burnout talking, but I'm pretty upset."
Africa Images / CanvaPro A manager posting to Reddit started her spiel with a PSA: “I want to preface this post by saying that I am a woman, and I fully support parental leave rights. I also deeply wish that the U.S. had government-mandated parental leave like other countries do."
However, she quickly turned around to explain why maternity leave was currently the bane of her existence at work.
A new employee revealed she was 8 months pregnant, only 2 days after being hired.
"I’m a manager who has been making do with a pretty lean team for a year due to a hiring freeze," the Reddit poster explained. “I finally got approved to hire someone to fill that resource gap in order to unburden myself and my direct report, but due to budget constraints, the position was posted in a foreign country.”
“Two weeks ago, after several rounds of interviews, I finally made a hire," she continued. "I was ecstatic and relieved for about 2 days, and then I received an email from my new employee.”
It seemed that this manager would not be getting the lessened workload she desired. The employee who hadn't even started the job yet informed her new boss that she was eight months pregnant and had plans to go on maternity leave within her first five weeks of starting the job.
After being understaffed and struggling through a ‘hiring freeze,’ the manager admitted she was ‘desperate’ for the extra help of a new employee.
It's clear that this manager is struggling in her role, both in providing a healthy environment for her employees and managing her own work stress and workload. It’s the kind of culture that so many corporate professionals struggle with — they’re overworked, afraid to re-enter the job market, and under-compensated despite doing jobs intended for multiple people.
So, when this woman was faced with this surprise leave from a new employee, she couldn’t help but feel upset. Yes, she supported equitable maternity leave, but it also meant she would need to do double the work once again.
“I’m now in a situation where I’ll spend 1 month onboarding/training her only for her to leave for God knows how long. She could be gone for a month or over a year,” she wrote. “My manager said we could look into a contractor during her leave, but I’ll also have to hire and train that person. Maybe it’s the burnout talking, but I’m pretty upset.”
As for legality and employment law, this manager is unable to rescind an offer that has been accepted solely based on her pregnancy status, as it would be considered “unlawful discrimination.”
Reddit commenters agree that the burden lies with her company — ‘You clearly need a larger team.’
“I’m not even sure that I’m upset at this woman per se. What she did wasn’t great, especially given that she had a competing offer, and I was transparent about needing help ASAP, but I’m not sure what I would’ve done in her position,” the manager added. “I think maybe I’m just upset at the entire situation and how unlucky it is? I’m exhausted, and I don’t want to have to train 2 people while also doing everything else I’m already doing. I badly need a vacation.”
Martin Lauge Villadsen / Shutterstock
Commenters empathized with this manager’s situation but ultimately relayed that this kind of frustration is all too common in corporate realms, particularly because people are already stressed and overworked.
“Blame your [crappy] workplace for not hiring enough people,” one person wrote. “So many people are ‘pro-maternity leave’ until it affects their job or company … why do we think that is?”
Pregnancy needs to be destigmatized in the professional world — nobody should have to sacrifice their career growth, feel guilty, or stress about their job security to start a family. Yes, there are legal protections for pregnant people, but culturally, we have a long way to go.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.