What Work Moment Made You Go From Proud Employee To "I'm Just Here For The Paycheck."?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was sexually assaulted at a work event. It was on camera and in front of the CEO, attorney, and HR. They didn’t fire him. I stayed a few months collecting evidence and sued.

Wow! My moment for the thread came when HR used the sexual harassment investigation of claims made by my employee to write her up as well as the harasser who was caught on tape. How do you get in trouble when you brought the claim? I squashed the write ups and the harasser left the position but it was awful. I justified staying because I need the job and the claims were peer to peer comments that are overly friendly but actually not sexual and I knew I could influence the harasser to leave which happened.

I didn't think that an actual sexual assault would be protected but the slippery slope of the above concerned me and you're here to prove it. We haven't evolved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my federal government HR head denied my FMLA request for parental leave following the birth of my child. She asked me if I had the baby vaginally (?!) and then told me I had to report to work in six weeks despite qualifying for FMLA. I spent the majority of my maternity leave trying to work it all out. She was eventually counseled by OPM but I was done. I returned to work, collected my paycheck for a few months, and then left to start my own business. It has thrived for almost 8 years now and my daughters have been at my side every moment of the journey. I still think about that tw*t but without her I might not have had the guts to set out on my own!

Actually, a lot of leave policies provide separate amounts of leave for c-section versus vaginal birth. So while she could have phrased it more politely -- such as "did you have a c-section, yes or no" -- she may well have been required to ask. The FMLA stuff is less excusable, although FMLA is pretty complicated and it is possible you thought you qualified and didn't; but since you say you did, it's less understandable why she'd deny it.

[Anonymous]

ICU RN. It’s been a million little cuts followed by the awfulness of COVID19- now I’m working a few more months and then I’m out of the medical field entirely. I am so burnt out my patient care is suffering for sure. It’s time to go.

[Anonymous]

Getting laid off without notice as a cost cutting measure because I had been there longer than most. Worst part was they did it via zoom. Fortunately/Unfortunately, I was rehired a few months later but I have lost my zeal and spark. I keep waiting for the axe to drop again and envy those of you getting jobs because I haven’t been able to get another job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my federal government HR head denied my FMLA request for parental leave following the birth of my child. She asked me if I had the baby vaginally (?!) and then told me I had to report to work in six weeks despite qualifying for FMLA. I spent the majority of my maternity leave trying to work it all out. She was eventually counseled by OPM but I was done. I returned to work, collected my paycheck for a few months, and then left to start my own business. It has thrived for almost 8 years now and my daughters have been at my side every moment of the journey. I still think about that tw*t but without her I might not have had the guts to set out on my own!

Actually, a lot of leave policies provide separate amounts of leave for c-section versus vaginal birth. So while she could have phrased it more politely -- such as "did you have a c-section, yes or no" -- she may well have been required to ask. The FMLA stuff is less excusable, although FMLA is pretty complicated and it is possible you thought you qualified and didn't; but since you say you did, it's less understandable why she'd deny it.

If you work in DC you are granted 12 weeks FMLA. It's illegal to ask detailed medical questions. You could have countered a shock trauma case against the company. Read the laws which protect you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my federal government HR head denied my FMLA request for parental leave following the birth of my child. She asked me if I had the baby vaginally (?!) and then told me I had to report to work in six weeks despite qualifying for FMLA. I spent the majority of my maternity leave trying to work it all out. She was eventually counseled by OPM but I was done. I returned to work, collected my paycheck for a few months, and then left to start my own business. It has thrived for almost 8 years now and my daughters have been at my side every moment of the journey. I still think about that tw*t but without her I might not have had the guts to set out on my own!

Actually, a lot of leave policies provide separate amounts of leave for c-section versus vaginal birth. So while she could have phrased it more politely -- such as "did you have a c-section, yes or no" -- she may well have been required to ask. The FMLA stuff is less excusable, although FMLA is pretty complicated and it is possible you thought you qualified and didn't; but since you say you did, it's less understandable why she'd deny it.

If you work in DC you are granted 12 weeks FMLA. It's illegal to ask detailed medical questions. You could have countered a shock trauma case against the company. Read the laws which protect you.

Federal employees are not covered by DC FMLA, only federal FMLA.

[Anonymous]

Playing favorites. No strategy, hot air bs

[Anonymous]

My boss berates me. He plays favorite, pumping up one or two employees for mediocre achievements. The rest of the team excels on a daily basis, but he berates us for stupid things like only copying five people on an email instead of six.

[Anonymous]

I work for a "non profit" that is a sector that is really hurting right now. Over the summer we had to eliminate a number of positions, and we have a ton of unfilled positions that means more work across an already stretched thin staff. Many of our least well paid employees (like 60k and under) are also required to be onsite. I recently found out that someone on my team, who moved to this city for this job, is probably going to lose her job--which is 30hrs/week at 23.00/hour (and she has an MA). There are no pay raises or COL adjustments and we all had our benefits cut (via retirement matching from 6 to 2 percent). Then I found out that the director, who made close to 600k last year, got a raise from the board.

I have an interview next week for a new job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my federal government HR head denied my FMLA request for parental leave following the birth of my child. She asked me if I had the baby vaginally (?!) and then told me I had to report to work in six weeks despite qualifying for FMLA. I spent the majority of my maternity leave trying to work it all out. She was eventually counseled by OPM but I was done. I returned to work, collected my paycheck for a few months, and then left to start my own business. It has thrived for almost 8 years now and my daughters have been at my side every moment of the journey. I still think about that tw*t but without her I might not have had the guts to set out on my own!

Actually, a lot of leave policies provide separate amounts of leave for c-section versus vaginal birth. So while she could have phrased it more politely -- such as "did you have a c-section, yes or no" -- she may well have been required to ask. The FMLA stuff is less excusable, although FMLA is pretty complicated and it is possible you thought you qualified and didn't; but since you say you did, it's less understandable why she'd deny it.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is complicated about the FMLA stuff?
Every time I had a child and contacted HR about maternity leave, I always got feedback like they had never heard of this before, and it took weeks (or months) to work out.

Shouldn't this be a fairly standard thing that happens all of the time? One of the hospitals I worked for at the time had 15,000 employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boss recently made his admin assistant his "chief of staff." she reads all his email, decides what he needs to see and decides whether we can talk to or see him. We are not allowed to approach him directly and now we all work for his secretary.

Off topic, but I have a question about this - I have been looking for Chief of Staff positions myself. In my large organization, it's a top position (right under the CEO). But most of the descriptions I read seem to be 5 years experience, max - more entry-level. I guess that's a thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My boss recently made his admin assistant his "chief of staff." she reads all his email, decides what he needs to see and decides whether we can talk to or see him. We are not allowed to approach him directly and now we all work for his secretary.

+1

Inflated titles (especially for the admin staff) are a HUGE red flag.

Why?
We have an admin person who is great but really, really underutilized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked at a big PR agency. When I came back after maternity leave and was given a daycare as a client, where a baby with my same due date passed away. After that I started spending full days figuring out how to launch my own firm. Best thing I ever did.

Are saying that they gave you a space for daycare and that the reason the space was available is that a baby had died? And that made you quit? Or you had problems with the day care?

I'm sorry for that familys loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was “investigated” by HR for being a part of a group of trouble making women who had gotten salary information and realized they were under compensated. Ironically I wasn’t part of the group, but when one person had asked me for guidance I suggested that they either talk to their manager about their concerns or go to HR.

This all came out when the HR team reached out to me to share the feedback that I needed to stop being so empathetic to the younger employees as it made them more demanding.

Good grief! I hope this was in 1950!

I have had the "you are too empathetic" line as well (although not for this reason - that is terrible).

I am never sure if it means I don't act "executive' enough (tow the party line) -- which I understand -- or if there is something sexist behind it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imternal promotions are always risky because the hiring managers may dislike you for a minor mistake in the past or rumors your colleagues are spreading. I remember a colleague being passed over for an outside hire because leadership didn't want morale to tank from having to choose an internal candidate over all the others. Always apply externally as you can also fluff your resume without the hiring managers knowing any better.

You don't mean applying to your own organization as an external candidate - do you?