The coronavirus pandemic has left millions of people around the world in a pretty tough spot. Despite the need to maintain employment to survive, many individuals were laid off due to the quarantine mandated by countries globally.
In fact, there were more people on government-funded unemployment programs over the last few months than in years prior. It’s been a hard road for individuals who have tried to maintain their careers and jobs to survive.
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Fortunately, many people have been able to work from home.
With technology being a component of all of our lives, many people were able to maintain their jobs at home. However, with our families at home too, it can make working rather difficult.
Many working parents have been struggling to maintain work and care for their children at the same time.
When you have to be on Zoom calls and work meetings, it’s hard to keep your kids entertained. They frequently want your attention and even when they’re playing, they can be heard sometimes in the background.
Kids have been struggling with the quarantine, too.
Staying inside for so long has been tough for kids, too. They have been struggling with remote learning and missing the social interactions they get from seeing their friends at school.
It seems that the balancing act of working from home with children has not only been difficult, but also it can cost you your job.
According to popular mom blogger Dris Wallace, having a family at home while working remotely can cost you your job. She alleges that she recently was let go by her boss due to her children.
The San Diego-based mom not only blogs, but worked full time in the financial industry, too.
In an Instagram post that has now gone viral, Dris explained that she didn’t qualify for the government’s coronavirus relief paid leave provisions. Instead, she was working just as much, if not more, while at home.
During the quarantine period, her boss had approached her about phone calls she had been making from home.
Dris wrote on Instagram that her supervisor wanted her to figure out a way to “keep her kids quiet” while she was on the phone. Any parent knows that toddlers aren’t the easiest to keep quiet.
Dris decided to go to the company’s HR department to discuss the discrimination she felt was happening.
She felt it was unfair for her supervisor to come down on her for having children in her home, as she has been working hard to maintain her business. However, a week later, she was terminated from the company.
After she was fired, her said the company tried to offer her “hush money” to keep what was happening quiet.
But, instead, Dris wanted to make changes as a result of her termination. She posted her story on Instagram and it has now been liked over 14,000 times and seen by her 60,000 followers.
Dris has also hired a lawyer to get to the bottom of this discrimination case.
“The company’s president expressed support for all parents. Like most company statements, this was just lip service. [Dris] explained the afternoon would be best for calls because that’s naptime, but he continued scheduling calls in the morning, telling her ‘we can’t have kids or noise in the background, you need to take care of this kid situation.’ This manager is a father of teenage kids with a stay-at-home wife. Obviously, he doesn’t get it,” her lawyer posted in a statement on Instagram.
Her lawyer is now fighting the company to ensure that Dris will see justice.
Her lawyer wrote on Instagram that she will make sure that Dris will see justice after being, “terminated for reporting discrimination.” Their suit claims that the company is guilty of gender discrimination, gender harassment, and negligent supervision among other charges.
