Getting out of a lousy workplace

My wife has been working on contract in the public sector for a number years. A couple years ago, she started a new contract at a different division of the same institution. Before being offered the job, she was told by the division head that it would be disruptive if she were to become pregnant and that she should consider this carefully. We were in fact planning to have a baby at the time, but I suggested that she ignore this moron as it was probably illegal for him to have said this in the first place. Several months into the job, she did become pregnant and this division head subsequently minimised his interaction with her. She was told by HR that she would not qualify for paid maternity leave as she had not worked for the 40-week minimum period at this division, which is a separate legal entity (although it is a part of the broader institution where she had worked for years). We had a premature birth, and when she emailed the division head to notify him from the hospital, he never even replied. It was a big argument for her to receive a 1 month extension of unpaid leave beyond the statutory minimum, as the baby was barely past his term date when she was supposed to return to work. The division head suggested at the time that she should consider resigning instead, using a Chinese metaphor along the lines of "a potato cannot be planted where another potato is growing".


When she did return to work, she was repeatedly reassigned to different projects under different supervisors. During her recent performance review, a colleague who works on unrelated projects was unexpectedly present and did all the talking, criticising her for not exhibiting enough passion for the job. On the grounds of this poor review, she was denied a performance bonus that most people received and the division manager suggested that she consider whether she was in a suitable line of work. At this point, I urged her to focus on getting out of this place and she promptly received a job offer from a subsidiary organisation at the same broader institution. Having been urged to leave in so many ways, we didn't expect them to hold her to the 3-month notice period, but this is what they are doing and they are also declining to grant any remaining leave. They have also piled on some additional projects and told her that these must be completed before her departure. This has effectively ruined our summer plans and makes it difficult for her to prepare for her new position, which has a learning curve.


I've urged my wife to be much more aggressive. Tell them bluntly that this has been a discriminatory work environment, that she is done, that she won't pay any penalty and if they don't agree, it can be settled at the labor tribunal. I think these guys who run little public sector fiefdoms are ultimately cowards afraid of trouble. Or she can simply offer to pay the penalty, but assure them that she will then lodge a discrimination complaint with the top management of the institution. Unfortunately, she is very concerned about burning her bridges, and wont' follow this tact. She appealed to HR for flexibility since she is taking a position at a related institution. However the HR person unexpectedly told her supervisor, started communicating directly with HR at the other division and told her that they would coordinate amongst themselves as it was an "internal transfer", possibly reducing the notice by 2-4 weeks at most. Funny how it is now an internal transfer, but it was previously a separate legal entity when the issue was eligibility for paid maternity leave. Is there any other way to get out of this dump without having to pay out of pocket?

Illegal or not is irrelevant. Before she accepted the work they told her not to waste their time by getting pregnant and you told your wife to ignore that warning. Are you honestly surprised that they treat her this way now after you ignored them?


If you pursue this it'll not only burn bridges but it'll also close future doors for her. Employers don't like hiring employees who sue their former employers.


Congratulations on the new family, but next time consider others (and their warnings) and don't just pretend like some words in a law book will magically fix things without shared consequences.

lucane, pretty poor advice frankly. becoming pregnant is a fundamental right that is protected by a considerable strength of law. you can't just wish that away.


terryll, regarding the notice period you could consider paying in lieu. not ideal but it's usually a right you have in your employment contract.


i dont think you can argue much with the "internal transfer"thing. soundssh*tty indeed, but legally there's not much you can do in my view.


however, i do think you should consider what to do about the remaining leave. they don't have to grant it to her, but if they don't grant it, they should pay it out. this is leave that she is entitled to by right, so it's either taking it or paying her out. Regarding the additional projects, i would let that one go; it's not worth fighting.


pick your fights and move on would be my best advice.

cookie,


A fundamental right is not magically protected instantly by the rules of the universe - there is nothing that stops a person from violating any part of your rights other than the fear of severe recourse. This employer warned her upfront not to waste their time, that was his subtle hint that he was going to waste her time if she got pregnant (and apparently he was not worried about recourse). Like it or not, this is the real world.


Pretending that you have rights that magically insulate you from trouble is juvenile thinking. It'd be like walking into a dangerous neighborhood in Africa or Brazil wearing expensive jewelry and thinking "it is my right to not be robbed or murdered, so I'm ok." They were warned and ignored it, they should not have been naive to think that nothing negative would come from this. To protect their rights they now have to go fight it out in court, which is almost a near guaranteed loss. They will have a hard time proving there was discrimination, it is a lot of he-said she-said hearsay, and they will burn bridges not only with the previous employer but with all future employers too (no one likes hiring employees who sue their employers).


They played it poorly, time to move on.

I thought this was a legal advice forum, not a law of the jungle forum. Lucane, your "rules of the universe" brand of realist advice can just as easily be applied to this moron of a boss. We live in a society where pregnancy discrimination is prohibited by law. If he doesn't like this, he can remove himself to a primitive barefoot society somewhere. He is after all running a division of a public institution funded by taxpayer money. He flouted the law at the very beginning when he cautioned my wife not to become pregnant if she wanted the job. Afterwards he became sulky and treated her unfairly. He created a discriminatory and arguably hostile work environment. Can we prove all this in court? Maybe not, but we can certainly try and I hope he is prepared to defend himself against claims of sex discrimination in a public forum. Short of this, we can complain formally to HR, to the head of the institution. to the staff association, etc. I hope he is prepared for the year-long investigation that would likely ensue. Trouble is that my wife is not as adversarial as I am and seems to want to suffer through. I can say there is no way that we are going to pay 3 months of salary as a penalty to this scumbag. I have a good mind just to confront him in a dark alley one night.

You are right that this is the legal advice forum, and our legal advice is that you drop it because you legally will lose this battle. Furthermore our career advice is that you drop it because you are about to trash your wife's career by blacklisting her from future employment (employers do not want employees who sue them). And finally our life advice is to drop it and move on and get past your emotions - you all initially screwed him by wasting his time so now he is screwing you all, that is the way life really works, it's not some idealistic universe where bad things cannot happen because some laws scribbled on paper that forbid it.


Move on, do not let this fester into something bigger than it already is. Focus all your energy into providing for your wife and child, not on sating your emotions by pursuing this employer.