Pregnant Woman Asks If Boss' Plan For Going Into Labor At Work Is Even Legal

There are a lot of ways we can describe a pregnancy as unpredictable, but a lot of new parents will tell you that one of the biggest ways in which this is true concerns the timing of the birth.

While pregnant people usually get a due date that gives them some idea of when a baby is supposed to come, there are so many cases that make it clear this is more of an educated guess than a prediction of what's to come.

And since it can often take a mother-to-be by surprise when her water breaks, some moms have had to pull themselves out of some stressful situations.

Some have had to deliver their own babies, while one doctor kept her own labor in check long enough to deliver that of another patient.

But while these were incredible moments of strength that show what some people can do when there are n other options, it seems that one store's management is expecting any pregnant employee to pull off a similarly superhuman feat.

For one manager at an unspecified retail chain, her company's policy when it comes to emergency situations is becoming more relevant by the day.

Pexels | Mikoto

As she explained in a Reddit post, she is pregnant and coming close to the end of her term, which led her to ask her store manager what protocols the business had in place in the event that she went into labor while at work.

And while you might expect that policy to be "get to the hospital ASAP and don't worry about anything else," she had reason to suspect this wasn't the case.

That's because her company has an explicit policy that managers of any level aren't allowed to leave the store unless another manager is also on duty.

So if she has to go when it's just her and a cashier, she could lose her job.

This being the case, she figured that some exception had to exist for emergencies like going into labor.

And if there was no specific policy, she said that the logical solution would be to schedule other managers with her during the weeks where she's most likely to have the baby.

However, it seems that the logical solution wasn't the one her upper managers had in mind.

That's because she was told that if she went into labor, she would have to call her store manager and her district manager.

At that point, she would either have to wait for another manager to come and relieve her (which could take up to an hour and a half) or hope she gets permission to close the store early. However, this would still mean going through the usual closing procedures, which normally take half an hour.

And considering that anything could happen once her water breaks and her job is potentially on the line if she doesn't follow this policy, she wondered if it's even legal.

In her words, "I'm not just gonna hang around and wait to see if I make it to the hospital. Guess I'll just [lose] my job instead [if] I go into labor at work."

And the community she reached out to quickly pointed out that according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, her managers would be committing pregnancy discrimination as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 explicitly forbids firing an employee for pregnancy-related reasons.

But since that doesn't necessarily mean her company won't try, commenters advised her to protect herself before the actual situation arises.

As one user put it, "Get someone on tape or in writing saying they expect you to stay at work after going into labour. Then take the tape to an attorney."

h/t: Reddit | Legitimate_Ocelot718

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