Internet left divided after woman claims she was made to stay at work despite being in active labor

Every expecting mother has a right to receive maternity leave from their workplace. Under the labor law in most countries around the globe, a pregnant employee deserves to take time off from their work obligations to prevent complications before, during or after childbirth. Reddit user u/IllSituation6855 shared a pitiful situation where her boss forced her to attend a work meeting despite knowing that she was in labor. The 28-year-old woman wrote how she had been working at that particular company for five years and was eight months pregnant when she started having contractions at her workplace.

She had also made a trip to the hospital previously when she experienced false labor pains. When she started experiencing contractions once again at work, the woman initially ignored it thinking it was another false alarm. "I didn’t want to cause a scene, so I tried to keep working. The last time I went to the hospital, my boss, John, made sarcastic comments about me being overly dramatic and joked about how I should schedule my labor around important meetings. I have social anxiety and tend to take people’s words without pushing back, so I just took it," the post explained. When her contractions started getting stronger by noon she informed John about it and said she needed to go to the hospital. In response, he rolled his eyes at her and told her to stay for the afternoon meeting.

Fearing she might lose her job, the woman decided to stay at the workplace. "The meeting lasted an excruciating two hours. By the end of it, I was in so much pain that I could barely walk. I finally left and drove myself to the hospital, where I was admitted immediately. My husband reached 30-40 minutes later because he was on the other side of town for a meeting. My daughter was born later that evening," the post mentioned. Upon her husband's insistence, she reported the incident to HR and they took action by suspending John. When the office investigated John, it was revealed that he had mailed the entire office and complained about how the woman was using her pregnancy to get excused from work.

Unfortunately, her coworkers did not support her and some even accused her of ruining John's career. "The stress from this whole ordeal has made it difficult to enjoy my first few days with my newborn," the woman shared in her post. The interim manager who took over at work was worse than John and the new mother started feeling isolated at her workplace when she returned from maternity leave. Overwhelmed at work and experiencing postpartum emotions, she often snapped at her husband who tried his best to support her. This was when she turned to the Reddit community to know if she was in the wrong for reporting John to HR.

The people in the comment section were left divided over this story. Some outright refused to believe the woman's claims whereas others offered sympathy and solutions to her. u/Hairy_Friendship3930 wrote, "I don’t believe any of this. I work on Wall Street and I can tell you even there this would be the most absurd thing ever and no one would have that manager's back. Co-workers would have reported it in your case." u/felinelawspecialist commented, "You're being retaliated against. I don't know where you live but that is often unlawful and you may be entitled to damages to compensate for the emotional distress that you are suffering." 

u/AppeltjeEitje1079 added, "Who do you work for and what the hell is going on there? These people are awful. Talk to HR again and then go on sick leave and find another job pronto. This is not normal company culture and you should shame them all the way! Sue them if you can, try to make their life as horrible as they made yours. Not for your sake or revenge but for the next woman who will be working there and dares to get pregnant." u/The_Crown_And_Anchor advised, "Go back to HR and mention everything above. Use the words discrimination and hostile work environment."