Dear Evil HR Lady,
I have been employed for just over a year at a very small company. There are about 15 employees in total and the turnover rate is quite high. There are very few females and many people do not last in the company due to several reasons such as, poor management, no room to grow, or the employees are simply fired due to “performance” reasons.
Over the past year, my manager has asked me several times when I plan to get pregnant. From my understanding this is a completely inappropriate question to ask any employee whether or not they are at that “childbearing” age. I have never directly answered that question because I believe it is none of their business as to when and if I plan to have a child. There is no HR person for me to raise my concern to and my manager is the highest ranking employee who oversees the day-to-day operations of the company. I also should add that my manager and owner of the company have a fairly close relationship.
I feel as though they are trying to scope out how long I plan to be there and how soon they should push me out (i.e. lay off or fire). I’m not sure how to handle the constant questioning and part of me wonders if this is a safe place of employment to be pregnant in. I’m also terrified that if I do become pregnant and when I tell them they would find a reason to let me go before I would go on maternity leave.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
To read the answer, click here: My boss keeps asking when I plan to get pregnant
So does her boss know babies don’t just suddenly appear out of thin air? Most people share the news once the pregnancy is in the 2nd trimester. Many choose to share before that point. So, your employer has months between finding out and their employee taking a mat leave. Also, considering your employee can get hit by a bus tomorrow you should already have a succession plan in place for key roles. In a 15 person organisation I imagine most roles are key.