Quitting law firm to go in house immediately after maternity leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the right thing and tell them now.

+1 Let chips fall where they may. Best in the long run.

OP here, do you think they can revoke my maternity leave if I give them that much advance notice?

Why do you think you are entitled to paid leave if you have no intention of returning? For someone who has gone to law school, you seem entirely lacking in common sense. Tell them immediately. The longer you wait, the more bad feelings there will be.

This is all a matter of contract, not common sense. She is entitled to whatever her contract with her employer says she is entitled to. At this point, OP doesn't seem to know what that is. That's what she really needs to know. If it were me, I'd let them know as soon as possible because I wouldn't want to owe my soon-to-be-former employer money. I was pretty stretched thin after my maternity leaves and paying back several months worth of pay would have wiped me out.

Why do you think she has a contract?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the right thing and tell them now.

+1 Let chips fall where they may. Best in the long run.

OP here, do you think they can revoke my maternity leave if I give them that much advance notice?

Why do you think you are entitled to paid leave if you have no intention of returning? For someone who has gone to law school, you seem entirely lacking in common sense. Tell them immediately. The longer you wait, the more bad feelings there will be.

OP here. Why should I be treated differently (worse) than someone that got another job and waited a while to give their 2-week's notice? The maternity leave is a benefit I receive because I put in at least a year of working with them (5 years to be exact).

Then ignore the advice and do what you want. I wouldn't hire someone who knowingly took advantage of a maternity leave policy/came back for one day/etc. It shows a total lack of ethical responsibility. Give your two weeks now, then go unpaid til you start your new job. That's if you want to do the right thing. They may even reward you for honesty and agree to pay it out.

[Anonymous]

OP, consult an employment attorney.

[Anonymous]

Is your in house position with a client or a potential client? If yes, maybe they won't take as hard of a line as if you were going to a competitor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the right thing and tell them now.

+1 Let chips fall where they may. Best in the long run.

OP here, do you think they can revoke my maternity leave if I give them that much advance notice?

Why do you think you are entitled to paid leave if you have no intention of returning? For someone who has gone to law school, you seem entirely lacking in common sense. Tell them immediately. The longer you wait, the more bad feelings there will be.

OP here. Why should I be treated differently (worse) than someone that got another job and waited a while to give their 2-week's notice? The maternity leave is a benefit I receive because I put in at least a year of working with them (5 years to be exact).

Then ignore the advice and do what you want. I wouldn't hire someone who knowingly took advantage of a maternity leave policy/came back for one day/etc. It shows a total lack of ethical responsibility. Give your two weeks now, then go unpaid til you start your new job. That's if you want to do the right thing. They may even reward you for honesty and agree to pay it out.

Agree with this poster. DC is a small town. Everyone knows everyone and you shouldn't burn bridges. Don't try to game the system. Women like you make it harder for the rest of us to take leave without our employers thinking we're not going to come back.

[Anonymous]

I"m a lawyer. I've seen women take their maternity leave and then not come back. It isn't well received and what's worse, it will be held against the women attorneys who want to take leave after you. They'll be taken less seriously out of the belief that the pregnant ones always leave.

Not saying you shouldn't take the job. You should if it's a better fit. But act like a grown up and tell them your leaving now, not after five more weeks of paid maternity leave. Maternity leave is intended to help you ease back into working at the firm, it's not a benefit for time served. But if you act responsibly, they may not hold it against you and may still give you all or some of the paidleave. Leaving on bad terms is never good and can often come back to hurt you in the future. Honesty is the best policy here.

[Anonymous]

Maternity leave is a benefit you earned. Ignore the harpies. They wouldn't dare come after a man who was off due to a stroke who decided they didn't want to come back. There is no legal difference between the two situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maternity leave is a benefit you earned. Ignore the harpies. They wouldn't dare come after a man who was off due to a stroke who decided they didn't want to come back. There is no legal difference between the two situations.

How many men choose to have a stroke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maternity leave is a benefit you earned. Ignore the harpies. They wouldn't dare come after a man who was off due to a stroke who decided they didn't want to come back. There is no legal difference between the two situations.

How many men choose to have a stroke?

How many men choose to have children?

[Anonymous]

Go back two weeks early and give notice. Make sure you have everything you need before you do in case they walk you out immediately. The worst case is you lose two weeks paid leave and give up that time off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maternity leave is a benefit you earned. Ignore the harpies. They wouldn't dare come after a man who was off due to a stroke who decided they didn't want to come back. There is no legal difference between the two situations.

How many men choose to have a stroke?

How much fully paid medical leave do law firms give?? My guess is no where close to 3 months paid. Not to mention the fact that I've never heard of a scenario where a law firm associate or partner had a stroke, was out on medical leave, took months of paid leave and then left for another job. But otherwise, great analogy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maternity leave is a benefit you earned. Ignore the harpies. They wouldn't dare come after a man who was off due to a stroke who decided they didn't want to come back. There is no legal difference between the two situations.

How many men choose to have a stroke?

How many men choose to have children?

I have no idea. My point was- are we really comparing choosing to have a baby with a life-threatening medical condition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the right thing and tell them now.

+1 Let chips fall where they may. Best in the long run.

OP here, do you think they can revoke my maternity leave if I give them that much advance notice?

Why do you think you are entitled to paid leave if you have no intention of returning? For someone who has gone to law school, you seem entirely lacking in common sense. Tell them immediately. The longer you wait, the more bad feelings there will be.

This is all a matter of contract, not common sense. She is entitled to whatever her contract with her employer says she is entitled to. At this point, OP doesn't seem to know what that is. That's what she really needs to know. If it were me, I'd let them know as soon as possible because I wouldn't want to owe my soon-to-be-former employer money. I was pretty stretched thin after my maternity leaves and paying back several months worth of pay would have wiped me out.

Why do you think she has a contract?

Everyone has a contract. It might not be written and it might not cover everything, but everyone has one. Your rate of pay, number of hours that you will work, benefits, etc. are all part of that contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I am currently on paid maternity leave for 5 more weeks. During maternity leave, I received a job offer from an in-house position that I applied for a while back. Although it is a small pay cut, the work/life balance will be great with the baby and I no longer have to deal with my d!c& of a boss. I would start at the in-house position immediately after my maternity leave ends at the firm (there's no room to move the start date whatsoever). Should I go back to work at the firm 2 weeks early to have enough time to give them my 2 weeks notice, or just let them know I won't be coming back a all?

Luckily, all my cases were transferred to others prior to my maternity leave, so I maybe have a few hours of closing up/tidying up matters. Maybe I give 1-week notice since I won't have 2 week's worth of work to do? I don't want to be rude and quit without a full 2 week notice, but it really is the perfect time since I wouldn't have to transfer matters.

I checked HR docs regarding maternity leave benefits for attorneys, and there is nothing about having to pay back maternity leave pay if I don't come back (ie silent). However, the handbook for other employees (staff) says that employees must return to work after maternity leave, or will be required to pay back. It does not give a day limitation, so I presume if you work for 1 day, that counts as coming back to work. Since the attorney handbook is silent, I'd like to at least clinch that 1 day of work to be on the safe side.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Because you have accepted other employment, working one day at the firm will not give you the protection you want. You crossed into a gray area as soon as you accepted to other position. Once you accpeted alternative employment you knew that you would not be returning to the firm. Once you accept a new position your duty of loyalty to your employer requires that you inform them you are leaving. How quickly you have to inform them will be a fact based determination.

Here is the upside, since you are not leaving to go to a competitor, they are less likely to come after you. You have a good story to tell, you went on leaving thinking you would return, this opportunity presented itself, while it is less money it is also less hours, which is what you need right now, so you have changed your plans and will not be returning to the firm. If you play this right, which means you exit in a way that doesn't leave the powers at be think you "tricked" them by taking maternity leave to job search, I think you will be fine.

How much notice do att ones at your firm normally provide? At my firm, associates tended to provide 4 weeks notice (even people who are not doing well at the firm will give two weeks notice).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the right thing and tell them now.

+1 Let chips fall where they may. Best in the long run.

OP here, do you think they can revoke my maternity leave if I give them that much advance notice?

Why do you think you are entitled to paid leave if you have no intention of returning? For someone who has gone to law school, you seem entirely lacking in common sense. Tell them immediately. The longer you wait, the more bad feelings there will be.

This is all a matter of contract, not common sense. She is entitled to whatever her contract with her employer says she is entitled to. At this point, OP doesn't seem to know what that is. That's what she really needs to know. If it were me, I'd let them know as soon as possible because I wouldn't want to owe my soon-to-be-former employer money. I was pretty stretched thin after my maternity leaves and paying back several months worth of pay would have wiped me out.

Why do you think she has a contract?

Everyone has a contract. It might not be written and it might not cover everything, but everyone has one. Your rate of pay, number of hours that you will work, benefits, etc. are all part of that contract.

That is simply wrong. It is wrong on so many levels. Most people do not have a contract. Most people are at-will employees.