Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

vice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 229 posts

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#31

Post by monocasa »

curiousgal wrote: post #10

She got six weeks instead of eight. How dare they. She could've applied for more days based on her psychological state. Also how dare they not pay her commissions earned by her team while she was away. I think the tone is all wrong here. Economically, it makes sense to "discriminate" against pregnant women, so the discussion should be more "Here's why you shouldn't do it" and less "How dare you do it!". Just my $0.02…

If her commisions are a large component of her compensation, why shouldn't she get that while maternity leave?

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#32

Post by d357r0y3r »

itronitron wrote: post #25
d357r0y3r wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, I don't think so. Most rules come about because one person, at some point, abused the policy, and so the company tries to make a more explicit rule to prevent the abuse in the future. I don't know the specifics of this case, but maternity leave is absolutely something that has been abused. My spouse worked with a woman who got hired while she was pregnant, had the baby and took advantage of the company's extreme…

From the company's standpoint, any employee that quits is simply a cash giveaway and a huge loss.

Some more than others.

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#33

Post by skrebbel »

curiousgal wrote: post #10

She got six weeks instead of eight. How dare they. She could've applied for more days based on her psychological state. Also how dare they not pay her commissions earned by her team while she was away. I think the tone is all wrong here. Economically, it makes sense to "discriminate" against pregnant women, so the discussion should be more "Here's why you shouldn't do it" and less "How dare you do it!". Just my $0.02…

> Economically, it makes sense to "discriminate" against pregnant women.

I've heard this repeated a lot but I don't get it (I'm an employer). I mean I can't think of many things that would hurt team morale and hiring reputation more than treating a young female employee like shit just because she got pregnant (let alone went through something as horrific as losing a child). What kind of short-sighted psychopath boss would look at this any other way?

I mean, even when looking at it with dry unemotional money glasses, high employee turn-over is a much more costly than the occasional paid pregnancy leave.

I just don't get it.

But yeah I guess that's what your point is :-) it just makes no sense to discriminate against any of this stuff.

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#34

Post by mindcrime »

Wow, just wow. Whoever made that decision is somebody who is truly worthy of the title "douchebag". How can any human being have so little regard for another? That's just disgusting.

There's a right way to handle a situation like this, and it goes something like:

-----------

Dear $EMPLOYEE:

We are very sorry to hear about your loss. All of us are wishing you the best in this time of need, and we are here to support you any way we can.

It's a small measure under the circumstances, but we just wanted to let you know that we've extended your leave to 12 weeks. If you need more time, just let us know. Rest assured, your job will be waiting for you when you return, and we'll all be thrilled to see you when you're ready.

We've also send you a special one-time bonus of $10,000, to help with any additional expenses that result from this situation. This will be deposited as part of your next paycheck.

If there's anything else we can do for you, just let us know.

$CEO_NAME

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#35

Post by 0x29A- »

fghorow wrote: post #11
ttul wrote: post #8

I had a baby that died. It was an excruciating experience and nobody around us knew what to do or say. From personal experience I can say it should be treated as a grave mental health issue and companies should be forced to provide a great deal of leave to both parents. Whether leave is paid or unpaid, this should be treated in the same way as any disability or health related leave. IMHO it would be cheap for compani…

I am also a bereaved parent, although my child died at age 25. I utterly agree about the grave mental health issues being caused in the parents. May peace be unto you. (Ping me if you want info about an organization called "The Compassionate Friends" specifically for bereaved parents.)

As father to the best 8 month young man in the world I can't imagine even for a moment what that is like. I never ever comment on hacker news, I just wanted to say I'm deeply sorry anyone here may have lost their child.

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#36

Post by fghorow »

nthnh wrote: post #24
fghorow wrote: post #14

Just in case there are other bereaved parents (of whom I am one) reading this. I want you to know about an organization called The Compassionate Friends, composed solely of family members of a deceased child. https://www.compassionatefriends.org/ "You need not walk alone."

Thanks for sharing this!

As we say at our local meetings:

"We are desperately sorry for the reason you are here, but we are glad you found us."

(Edit: typo.)

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#37

Post by xenihn »

ttul wrote: post #8

I had a baby that died. It was an excruciating experience and nobody around us knew what to do or say. From personal experience I can say it should be treated as a grave mental health issue and companies should be forced to provide a great deal of leave to both parents. Whether leave is paid or unpaid, this should be treated in the same way as any disability or health related leave. IMHO it would be cheap for compani…

>From personal experience I can say it should be treated as a grave mental health issue and companies should be forced to provide a great deal of leave to both parents.

This shouldn't be limited to losing a newborn child. Losing a child at any stage of life is devastating.

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#38

Post by kgwgk »

itronitron wrote: post #25
d357r0y3r wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, I don't think so. Most rules come about because one person, at some point, abused the policy, and so the company tries to make a more explicit rule to prevent the abuse in the future. I don't know the specifics of this case, but maternity leave is absolutely something that has been abused. My spouse worked with a woman who got hired while she was pregnant, had the baby and took advantage of the company's extreme…

From the company's standpoint, any employee that quits is simply a cash giveaway and a huge loss.

Especially when they had been giving cash in return for nothing. The cash giveaway is in the paid leave part, not in the quitting part.

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#39

Post by crispyporkbites »

Her maternity leave was cut from 8 to 6 WEEKS

I had to do a double take there, I read it as months first time. How can a woman give birth and be back at work in eight weeks? Six weeks seems impossible baby or not, the recovery time for pregnancy and birth can be many months.

If I were a woman living in a society like that I think I’d either not have children or not work at all.

Re: Engineer Says Software Firm Cut Her Maternity Leave Short After Her Baby Died

#40

Post by fghorow »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #20
ttul wrote: post #8

I had a baby that died. It was an excruciating experience and nobody around us knew what to do or say. From personal experience I can say it should be treated as a grave mental health issue and companies should be forced to provide a great deal of leave to both parents. Whether leave is paid or unpaid, this should be treated in the same way as any disability or health related leave. IMHO it would be cheap for compani…

I had a coworker who went through this. My bosses were very gracious. She was on leave for some time, purely for mental health reasons. And I’m sure returning to work with her job intact was a major comfort. Our direct boss at the time would meet with her for lunch occasionally until she felt well enough to come back. I’m willing to bet it was the best way it could have gone for her in light of what she experienced.…

I am happy to hear that she is beaming.

But, from personal experience, I would not assume that she is anything like "over" losing the other child.

Post reply on HN