Boss keeps bugging me on maternity leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any truth to what she was saying?

Op here. There’s truth in that I am looking around and have been for awhile, but I don’t have another job and fully intend to return. I have not shared with my boss that I’m unhappy or looking, but turnover and morale are terrible on our team. I think one of my coworkers said something to my boss. I shared with this coworker that I had an interview a couple months ago, but again, no offer, no contract, no plan to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here with an update.

I spoke to my boss on the phone. She said that she “had it on good authority” that I’m not planning to return to my job after maternity leave, and she wanted to tell me to please resign as soon as possible so she could hire my replacement.

I told her this is simply not true-I don’t have another job and I do intend to return after my leave, but of course if that were to change I will let her know promptly so she can move forward with hiring my replacement.

She straight up didn’t believe me and gave me a lecture on cobra, benefits, etc.

I’ve been in this job over 5 years and am a top performer.

Wow!

If you are indeed planning on returning, I would follow up with an email to her and carbon copy human resources.

Yes, this is incredibly inappropriate (and illegal? Lawyers?). I'd definitely alert HR and let them handle her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any truth to what she was saying?

Op here. There’s truth in that I am looking around and have been for awhile, but I don’t have another job and fully intend to return. I have not shared with my boss that I’m unhappy or looking, but turnover and morale are terrible on our team. I think one of my coworkers said something to my boss. I shared with this coworker that I had an interview a couple months ago, but again, no offer, no contract, no plan to leave.

I can’t imagine why.

OP, be prepared for her to hold your maternity leave against you. My first review after having my DD was low increase and bonus because “I didn’t work a whole year anyway.” Also, for everyone saying go to HR, keep in mind HR’s job is to protect the employer, not you. They enforce rules so the employer can’t get sued or other adverse actions. My boss was terrible to her employees but played the right game with senior staff and after a couple of us went to HR, her behavior got worse but her covering her ass got better. I eventually left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any truth to what she was saying?

Op here. There’s truth in that I am looking around and have been for awhile, but I don’t have another job and fully intend to return. I have not shared with my boss that I’m unhappy or looking, but turnover and morale are terrible on our team. I think one of my coworkers said something to my boss. I shared with this coworker that I had an interview a couple months ago, but again, no offer, no contract, no plan to leave.

I can’t imagine why.

OP, be prepared for her to hold your maternity leave against you. My first review after having my DD was low increase and bonus because “I didn’t work a whole year anyway.” Also, for everyone saying go to HR, keep in mind HR’s job is to protect the employer, not you. They enforce rules so the employer can’t get sued or other adverse actions. My boss was terrible to her employees but played the right game with senior staff and after a couple of us went to HR, her behavior got worse but her covering her ass got better. I eventually left.

Wouldn't that include this situation? OP can sue the company for .. I don't know, something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any truth to what she was saying?

Op here. There’s truth in that I am looking around and have been for awhile, but I don’t have another job and fully intend to return. I have not shared with my boss that I’m unhappy or looking, but turnover and morale are terrible on our team. I think one of my coworkers said something to my boss. I shared with this coworker that I had an interview a couple months ago, but again, no offer, no contract, no plan to leave.

I can’t imagine why.

OP, be prepared for her to hold your maternity leave against you. My first review after having my DD was low increase and bonus because “I didn’t work a whole year anyway.” Also, for everyone saying go to HR, keep in mind HR’s job is to protect the employer, not you. They enforce rules so the employer can’t get sued or other adverse actions. My boss was terrible to her employees but played the right game with senior staff and after a couple of us went to HR, her behavior got worse but her covering her ass got better. I eventually left.

Wouldn't that include this situation? OP can sue the company for .. I don't know, something?

I think that any competent HR person would consider a supervisor who tries to coerce employees on FMLA into quitting a risk to the company. If nothing else, notifying HR in writing about the situation documents it for the next egregious thing the supervisor does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any truth to what she was saying?

Op here. There’s truth in that I am looking around and have been for awhile, but I don’t have another job and fully intend to return. I have not shared with my boss that I’m unhappy or looking, but turnover and morale are terrible on our team. I think one of my coworkers said something to my boss. I shared with this coworker that I had an interview a couple months ago, but again, no offer, no contract, no plan to leave.

I would not blame the coworker or bring the coworker into this--there is some possibility your boss didn't hear anything from any coworker and is just trying to get rid of you and your poor coworker is totally innocent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this out of character for your boss?

Op here. No, not at all. She always pulls stuff like this.

of course she should show great restraint in contacting you while you're on maternity leave but come on...you're spending way more time monitoring this thread than you would have spent having a convo with your boss.

[Anonymous]

I am not an employment attorney but have familiarity in this area. I’d suggest you send boss an email ASAP and copy your HR manager. Say something like “This is to follow up to the phone conference held at your request on [date], x days after the birth of my child. You asked me if I was returning from maternity leave or would be tendering my resignation. Further, you advised me of the availability of benefits such as Cobra in the event of the termination of my employment.

As I told you during our phone call, I have no present intention of tendering my resignation. I would greatly appreciate it if you would refrain from scheduling further phone calls during my FMLA. If there are any further questions, please send an email. I will do my best to respond in due course.”

[Anonymous]

OP, it's important that you document this conversation. I do think you should call HR. She has no right to badger you while you're on maternity leave. If you do end up leaving, be sure to give the requisite notice per you employee handbook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any truth to what she was saying?

Op here. There’s truth in that I am looking around and have been for awhile, but I don’t have another job and fully intend to return. I have not shared with my boss that I’m unhappy or looking, but turnover and morale are terrible on our team. I think one of my coworkers said something to my boss. I shared with this coworker that I had an interview a couple months ago, but again, no offer, no contract, no plan to leave.

I think you really would benefit from specific and private legal advice, and of course you should be frank with your counsel about any prior conversations.

I wouldn't assume that coworker said something, but I would definitely assume that you have no private conversations going forward with anyone who could have any connection to your employer.

I would document this phone call ASAP in an email in a professional and nonconfrontational way. Something like, "To follow up on our phone conversation earlier today, I wanted to make sure we have the same understanding. You stated that … " This way you have a contemporaneous record of what your understanding was, and you will have her response (if any).

Please get professional advice. This sounds like it would be a hostile workplace to walk back into, regardless of whether you were a high performer. So I think you need to prepare to make your exit be as protected from illegal in illegitimate punitive measures from your supervisor and employers as possible. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not an employment attorney but have familiarity in this area. I’d suggest you send boss an email ASAP and copy your HR manager. Say something like “This is to follow up to the phone conference held at your request on [date], x days after the birth of my child. You asked me if I was returning from maternity leave or would be tendering my resignation. Further, you advised me of the availability of benefits such as Cobra in the event of the termination of my employment.

As I told you during our phone call, I have no present intention of tendering my resignation. I would greatly appreciate it if you would refrain from scheduling further phone calls during my FMLA. If there are any further questions, please send an email. I will do my best to respond in due course.”

PS good wording

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any truth to what she was saying?

Op here. There’s truth in that I am looking around and have been for awhile, but I don’t have another job and fully intend to return. I have not shared with my boss that I’m unhappy or looking, but turnover and morale are terrible on our team. I think one of my coworkers said something to my boss. I shared with this coworker that I had an interview a couple months ago, but again, no offer, no contract, no plan to leave.

I can’t imagine why.

OP, be prepared for her to hold your maternity leave against you. My first review after having my DD was low increase and bonus because “I didn’t work a whole year anyway.” Also, for everyone saying go to HR, keep in mind HR’s job is to protect the employer, not you. They enforce rules so the employer can’t get sued or other adverse actions. My boss was terrible to her employees but played the right game with senior staff and after a couple of us went to HR, her behavior got worse but her covering her ass got better. I eventually left.

It is also HR’s job to prevent actions that result in the company being sued for discrimination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not an employment attorney but have familiarity in this area. I’d suggest you send boss an email ASAP and copy your HR manager. Say something like “This is to follow up to the phone conference held at your request on [date], x days after the birth of my child. You asked me if I was returning from maternity leave or would be tendering my resignation. Further, you advised me of the availability of benefits such as Cobra in the event of the termination of my employment.

As I told you during our phone call, I have no present intention of tendering my resignation. I would greatly appreciate it if you would refrain from scheduling further phone calls during my FMLA. If there are any further questions, please send an email. I will do my best to respond in due course.”

PS good wording

I would drop present intention and just say not planning to resign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not an employment attorney but have familiarity in this area. I’d suggest you send boss an email ASAP and copy your HR manager. Say something like “This is to follow up to the phone conference held at your request on [date], x days after the birth of my child. You asked me if I was returning from maternity leave or would be tendering my resignation. Further, you advised me of the availability of benefits such as Cobra in the event of the termination of my employment.

As I told you during our phone call, I have no present intention of tendering my resignation. I would greatly appreciate it if you would refrain from scheduling further phone calls during my FMLA. If there are any further questions, please send an email. I will do my best to respond in due course.”

PS good wording

I would drop present intention and just say not planning to resign.

NP here. I disagree. I think the original wording is important. OP does not want to get herself into any legal trouble should she find a new job anytime in the next year. If a good job comes along later in her maternity leave or within the first six months after returning, she has the option of resigning without any cause and she will not have mislead the employer or boss. If she eliminates that and sometime between now and her return to work, she gets an offer from another employer who had her resume on file or has a similar position to one she already applied for, she could get herself into trouble for having lied or mislead the employer by stating that she was not planning to resign.

And FYI, I looked up the guidelines for FMLA and found the following:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/employeeguide.pdf

Page 8:
Communication with Your Employer
You will need to inform your employer if your need for FMLA leave changes while you are out (for example, if your doctor determines that you can return to work earlier than expected). Your employer may also require you to provide periodic updates on your status and your intent to return to work.

So the boss is not completely out-of-line for her request. However, her methods of communicating with OP are shady. If this were above-board, she would have had no issue with sending an email and/or leaving the request on VM for OP. But the fact that she went out of her way to inconvenience OP just so that there was no documentation of the call, suggests that she was not following company policy or was not authorized to make such a request. Had this request come through HR, it could have been seen as just protecting the company in the event that OP was considering changing employers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not an employment attorney but have familiarity in this area. I’d suggest you send boss an email ASAP and copy your HR manager. Say something like “This is to follow up to the phone conference held at your request on [date], x days after the birth of my child. You asked me if I was returning from maternity leave or would be tendering my resignation. Further, you advised me of the availability of benefits such as Cobra in the event of the termination of my employment.

As I told you during our phone call, I have no present intention of tendering my resignation. I would greatly appreciate it if you would refrain from scheduling further phone calls during my FMLA. If there are any further questions, please send an email. I will do my best to respond in due course.”

PS good wording

I would drop present intention and just say not planning to resign.

NP here. I disagree. I think the original wording is important. OP does not want to get herself into any legal trouble should she find a new job anytime in the next year. If a good job comes along later in her maternity leave or within the first six months after returning, she has the option of resigning without any cause and she will not have mislead the employer or boss. If she eliminates that and sometime between now and her return to work, she gets an offer from another employer who had her resume on file or has a similar position to one she already applied for, she could get herself into trouble for having lied or mislead the employer by stating that she was not planning to resign.

And FYI, I looked up the guidelines for FMLA and found the following:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/employeeguide.pdf

Page 8:
Communication with Your Employer
You will need to inform your employer if your need for FMLA leave changes while you are out (for example, if your doctor determines that you can return to work earlier than expected). Your employer may also require you to provide periodic updates on your status and your intent to return to work.

So the boss is not completely out-of-line for her request. However, her methods of communicating with OP are shady. If this were above-board, she would have had no issue with sending an email and/or leaving the request on VM for OP. But the fact that she went out of her way to inconvenience OP just so that there was no documentation of the call, suggests that she was not following company policy or was not authorized to make such a request. Had this request come through HR, it could have been seen as just protecting the company in the event that OP was considering changing employers.

I'm talking with a tin-hat here, but OP you should screen shoot your call log that includes the date and the length of the call.