Patricia Grisafi
Depending on the kind of job you have, you might either feel really confident that if you get pregnant, they will treat you equitably or you might fear losing opportunities.
There’s still unfortunately a lot of discrimination against pregnant people in the workplace, and some people truly feel they might get canned if a pregnancy is revealed.
On Reddit, one woman found herself working with someone who plans to get pregnant—but is also kind of inept at her job.
The OP wants to know if it’s her business to tell her boss that this woman plans to get pregnant after getting a permanent contract.
“I (F29) am working in a dentist’s office. We are 5 dental assistants and 1 doctor. The new assistant – let’s call her Regina – is 41 years old and joined in November. As anyone else starting fresh, she has a temp contract for a duration of 6 months. In the beginning, she was kind of clinging to me and trusting me with some of her personal affairs without me asking to do so. In addition, she kept invading my private space (touching/hitting my ass) when we were changing several times, even though I told her to stop it when it first occurred. There have been witnesses to these events, but that’s not the main issue of this thread,” the OP writes.
“What’s bothering my colleagues and me (and probably the boss as well but I’m not sure) is the fact, that even though she claims to have 5 years of experience in this job, she keeps messing up simple tasks on a regular basis and justifies everything with: ‘nobody told me’ or ‘oh I did not know that’ – but its the exactly same situations and tasks over and over.”
“Here’s where I think I may be the asshole: when she was trusting me with her personal stuff, she told me that her plan is to try and get pregnant as soon as she has her permanent contract in her hands. Would I be the asshole if I told my boss, or let it slip nearby my boss so its overheard? I really love my job and this dentist’s office and don’t want them to be exploited like this, even though I understand its a personal matter and no boss would be allowed to inquire on such plans as to when someone tries to become pregnant.”
What do Redditors think?
“YTA don’t do this, stay out of it. She’s 41, she likely won’t be getting pregnant immediately anyway. If she does, that’s her business, not yours. Edit— the inappropriate personal touching and poor work habits though, have at it,” said Dszquphsbnt.
“Yeah what OP sees as exploitation sounds to me like she was waiting for financial stability to start trying…I am much more concerned with what “tasks” she keeps messing up as a dental assistant which would be reasonable to address with the boss as a concern about future employment – and the ass slapping,” noted Empty-Moose-9115.
“If her contract is made permanent then the bosses think she’s doing enough right to outweigh her mess ups and that also means they assume the risk of her getting pregnant because it is her right to do so. However the sexual harassment should definitely be brought up because that should definitely be a factor in whether or not she is made a permanent employee let alone allowed to remain as a temp,” said Trex13222.
“Putting yourself in a good situation and getting a job with maternity leave benefits is not ‘exploiting’ your employer. Employers offer those benefits to attract employees without whom their business could not operate. Furthermore, waiting until you have permanent employment with stable benefits before you get pregnant is just good parenting. No one owes their employer their fertility or their parenthood. People have a right to have children. By the time that baby is born she will have been working for a year and a half there already and maternity leave is only 6 weeks. There are millions of parents who ONLY accept jobs for the benefits. There are millions of parents who won’t even consider a job that isn’t providing the right income and right benefits for their children. Employers know this. Employers use this to their advantage. You are acting like this 41 year old at the very end of her fertility has years to wait to have a baby. She does not. She needs to get pregnant AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to even have a chance. She should not be banned from having a family because a bunch of busy bodies at her work place want to gossip about her personal business. If you have a problem with her work ethic address THOSE issues. But trying to get her fired for a totally normal thing at almost all parents who plan pregnancy’s responsibly do it ludicrous and would make you a huge asshole,” explained dogchick1985.
Lead image: Pexels
