Maternity leave and promotion

Gigglefest

While out in leave, I applied for a number of promotions both in my home office and satellite offices. I told my boss I would be willing to return from leave early if I was promoted. My boss called me this week and told me she has received a number of reference checks from the other offices, that she explained I am on maternity leave but would return ASAP if promoted, and gave glowing references. I was surprised that she told them I was out on maternity leave, and I am worried it will hurt my chances. I figured the reasons for my leave would be kept private and not mentioned. We had another employee who was promoted while on sick leave, and I doubt my boss said, "well, she is on leave for XYZ disease but will be back soon!" I feel I should be given the same privacy about the reason for my leave. Am I being unreasonable?

HobbityBarb

Maybe she said it because she didn't want the other offices to think you were sick - after all, you couldn't agree to come back early if you were sick.

Gigglefest

Are they even allowed to discuss that you are out if you are within your normal leave parameters? IDK what kinds of things are legal to disclose.

HobbityBarb

Sorry I don't know either. 

Good luck with your promotions though

kikimeemee

I'm with you, OP. I know it's obvious we are pregnant but I like to tell people I have an upcoming medical leave of absence/FMLA instead of maternity leave. What my boss tells people, who knows but it's very likely he says "maternity leave" bc last year our group meeting was moved to another state to accommodate our teammate who was "pregnant and had gestational diabetes" as he told us all.

Ugh... People NEED to be more careful with what they say at work.

shannm

Yeah, I think you are being overly sensitive.  Frankly, I would have rather had her say maternity leave than "a leave of absence" because then their minds might wander.  

I think she handled it well and I highly doubt it would hurt your chances anymore than if she had made a generalized statement about leave.

Now, you could argue that she might not have had to say anything about any leave but it is hard to know how it came up.  I think it is different if she just offered the information as opposed to it being relevant to the discussion they were having.  ie. "if we offer her this position, when can she start?"

Good Luck!

Gigglefest

Thank ladies!

MommyAtty

Look at it this way. You'll have the world's cutest ice-breaker at interviews.

Gigglefest

No, we don't have that restriction, and I am within my regular leave guidelines (aka no special rules for maternity, I could be using this leave for any FMLA reason).

2chatter

I would not worry about it. But the reason being divulged would not bother me; of all possible reasons, it's the one that I think does the least harm to a career trajectory. People come back on time from mat leave, generally. All other types of leave, people come back eventually. You know?

Beevol

I'm of two minds on this; on the one hand, if you were ill or recovering from a surgery, then you would not be able to return early if promoted, on the other hand, this was a pretty clear violation of your privacy. The fact that you were currently on leave (for any reason) shouldn't have been shared, IMO. 

Gigglefest

TBH, most of the women in power positions have no children or grown children. I am literally the only woman with a child in an office of 10 workers. I found out today they hired two other people for 2/3 of the promotions. They only one left is in my home office, and I should know about that one in the beginning of Nov. There are some other agency politics at work here in addition to my ML fears, so I don't think it is going to work out for me this go round. I am not hanging my hat on getting the in office job, my boss give the title temporarily to one of my co-workers, so it seems like that person will have it locked up .