Lack of planning is my emergency because why??

niknak1208

Work is seriously annoying me.  I'm almost 38 weeks so I think most things are annoying me. lol  But I told my manager that I was pregnant at 6 weeks.  6 weeks!  They have known this entire time that i would be going out on maternity leave. Our team is short staffed anyway so they were looking for temps a while ago.  We had a temp come in maybe a month or so ago.  She worked one week and then no called/no showed and never came back.  No more temps have been offered to us through recruiting. We were FINALLY approved to post two positions which we've been interviewing for this week.  We had one yesterday who I liked but I highly doubt she will accept the job after being here.  She's too smart for it.  Too driven.  For this particular posting I mean.  

on top of that, the person I've spent the last four weeks training.. accepted another position on another team within our department.  While I am very happy for her.. I think it's a great move for her and I'm happy she got the job.. our team is seriously devastated.  So now we have 2 open positions on our team AND her position AND I'll be on maternity in the next couple of weeks. 

So now everyone is in a panic and literally freaking out that I won't be here.  Part of me feels badly for them because it's just kind of a cluster around here lately.  Part of me doesn't!  I mean I've been preparing them for this since i got pregnant. I have stressed to them ten thousand times that if they don't have a butt in this chair.. it will not go well for their team.  I have documented every single process that I manage.  I have been as caught up as I possibly can be. As organized as I possibly can be.  Seriously what else do you want me to do?  I'm not shortening my planned leave just because you guys didn't plan well. Honestly it's just not my problem!  

I'm hoping that at minimum.. this will show them how much I actually do for them and I do it all by myself!  I handle leaves of absence/FMLA/ADA/Workers' comp for our entire instituion of 4000 staff.  And usually they treat me like I"m sitting on all this free time but now that they know I'll be off.. they're all freaking out.  

jerseygirl227

How annoying!  Like any of this is your problem.  I hope they get their stuff together soon.  Well, I guess they will because what other option do they have?  

Like you said, at least they will hopefully see how much you do and how valuable you are to the company.  Sad that it usually has to come to something like this for that to happen nowadays.

My fiance is taking a week off from work and working a week from home after LO arrives, and his company is kinda freaking out about that.  (They also have another guy who is taking a month of paternity leave a month before fiance is taking his.)  And, yeah, they've known about both babies for quite some time now.  Crazy how people (especially supposedly smart execs) can't plan.

I'm kinda stressing out about getting a long-term sub.  We have three more days of school, including today, and one clear out day.  I have not found ANYONE who wants to take my K-1 autism class next year.  I get that the kids can be tough and that my school is on the edge of town, but the school is great, the team is great and THE KIDS are great.  Just makes me sad and stressed.  I have someone coming in today to take a look at the classroom, but she doesn't sound very excited.  Am hoping I can sell her on it, lol.

@niknak1208 ... when is your last day, or are you working til the last minute?

niknak1208

jerseygirl227 exactly!! I can't even tell you how many managers I talk to on a daily basis who ask me if maternity leave is really supposed to be 12 weeks.. can't they only take 6?  I'm like what is wrong with you people!  Seriously!  I said no.  FMLA is 12 weeks. If they have a full balance available to them then yes they can take 12 weeks and no you cannot tell them no.  Geeeeez.  I mean don't they remember having babies??!! Apparently not.  

I'm planning on working until I deliver because our disability sucks.  There's a 2 week waiting period before they start to pay you so that's going to eat up almost ALL of my PTO time.  Otherwise, I would have taken PTO before going off on leave. I'm miserable.  I can hardly sit in my work chair for more than 5 minutes without having to stand up and move around or pee!  it sucks.  

Now they're like oh can you document what your deadlines are.. I said yup.. done and done. I've already done all of this. I can't help it that none of you pay attention or know how any of this stuff works.  I mean I've been training one person.. now they're like oh train this other person.  And that person didn't have time until this Friday. Well ok then.. what happens when I'm not here on Friday? I mean that's possible right.  

it's just ridiculous. Talk about stress me out before I go off.  And it's not like they can just not do what I'm doing.. I manage the timecards of all these people on leaves.. if someone isn't doing what I'm doing.. they're all not going to be paid correctly and that's going to be a huge cluster! It just amazes me how ignorant everyone is. 

To top of it.. our highest leader also quit and now he's like checked out. He's supposed to be here another month but he leaves all the time and he's just not present. 

jerseygirl227

I love how they think FMLA isn't 12 weeks.  Duh!  Crazy.

They better hope you don't go early, lol.  

sdnyc99

Ugh! Sorry you're dealing with annoying work stuff! Hopefully some good will come of it when they realize how valuable you are.

I'm only 15 weeks right now but already worried. I'm a kindergarten teacher & will be working through the end of October/beginning of Nov (due 11/10) but then taking the rest of the year off. When my colleague recently had her baby in February, the school didn't bother to start interviewing her leave replacement until the week before her due date. And then they were all shocked that they hadn't hired by the time she left. An uncertified teaching assistant had teach the class for 2 full weeks because they didn't have a teacher and the parents were PISSED! And of course the teacher who went out on leave was stressed and worried about her students...because she cares what happens to them! Meanwhile there are hundreds of applicants for every single job opening around here, so it's not like there's a shortage of candidates.
I keep reminding my administration of when I'm due. Hopefully it'll get in their heads to start their hiring process sooner this time!

freebutterfly7

No wonder you're annoyed! 

Sounds like you've done everything you could possibly do to prepare your coworkers. You've been responsible - now it's their turn. No one likes losing good employees for any amount of time or dealing with change. But, as I see it, they are no longer your highest priority.  

It's not long now - hang in there!

FreeButterfly70

niknak1208

I am shocked every day by the amount of managers/directors/supervisors who know NOTHING about FMLA/ADA requirements.  They contact me and think that I can just tell people no.  I keep reminding them.. you cannot deny someone FMLA and if they don't have FMLA and you are subject to ADA then you have to also investigate ADA.  If you don't, you could be in some big trouble and you don't want that.  I mean it's just ridiculous.  I had a manager call me today and say.. oh well this person doesn't have PTO time so doesn't that mean that they can't use their intermittent FMLA?  I said um no.. if they have FMLA.. they can use FMLA .. as long as our vendor has supporting documentation and says they approve it.. you cannot tell them no!  It's unbelievable.  

So later on today.. I'm told to continue training the same person I've been training. (she's the one that took a new job on another team).  And that she'll be covering me for at least 3 weeks. Ok so then what?  We hire someone new and that someone new knows nothing about our systems so then what? lol I mean it's just craziness.  Then I run into my other team person in the bathroom and she had asked to train with me all day Friday.. and apparently got yelled at about it and she's in the bathroom crying. I mean seriously people.. lets get it together!! 

Then I was really ticked this afternoon because we had a safety complaint at the main facility.. like 4 of us were invited to go to the walk through and NONE of them go but tell me to go.  Really?  It has ZERO to do with my job.. I'm 38 weeks pregnant and I have to park.. walk up a big hill to the building.. take the elevator down to the basement.. find the office (which I've never been to).. then walk down this huge tunnel to the main building.. and then stand in this area of concern for like 40 minutes where is like 95 degrees!  Seriously? I was super pissed and I told my manager about it.  Then I had to take notes and write up a report when I got back to send to the people that SHOULD have been at the walk through!  

jerseygirl227

sdnyc99 said:

Ugh! Sorry you're dealing with annoying work stuff! Hopefully some good will come of it when they realize how valuable you are.

I'm only 15 weeks right now but already worried. I'm a kindergarten teacher & will be working through the end of October/beginning of Nov (due 11/10) but then taking the rest of the year off. When my colleague recently had her baby in February, the school didn't bother to start interviewing her leave replacement until the week before her due date. And then they were all shocked that they hadn't hired by the time she left. An uncertified teaching assistant had teach the class for 2 full weeks because they didn't have a teacher and the parents were PISSED! And of course the teacher who went out on leave was stressed and worried about her students...because she cares what happens to them! Meanwhile there are hundreds of applicants for every single job opening around here, so it's not like there's a shortage of candidates.
I keep reminding my administration of when I'm due. Hopefully it'll get in their heads to start their hiring process sooner this time!

You're lucky!  We have to find our own subs, and let me tell you ... there aren't a lot of people beating down the door to teach kinder and first grade kids with special needs.  I think I finally found someone today.  (She's 98% sure she'll take it, she said.)  But, I am SCRAMBLING to try to get as much as I can ready for her.  PLUS, there are only two and a half days of school left for me to complete all my end-of-the-year stuff.  Talk about stress!

KaLikeAWind

Its almost like our work bosses are like 'well, they wont be here soon so better wring them dry while we can!'
I wish in order to become a boss, every single boss had to do an 'undercover boss' type of assisngment. They are so clueless.

@niknak1208 you've done the best you can. Now they have to reap the rewards of their 'planning' - for good or ill

ewenner

Ugh. It sounds like we are all having work drama! As for me, my company has less than 50 employees, so I'm not covered by FMLA at all. We have short term disability which will pay me about 1/3 of my salary for five weeks. Other than that, there is no written company policy regarding maternity leave.

When I told my boss about my pregnancy in January, she literally said it had been "so long" since there's been a pregnancy at the company that she didn't really know how best to handle it (she's the owner and CEo, mind you.) Based on that, I put together my own maternity leave plan, proposing that I take six weeks of actual leave (one week waiting period followed by five week disability) followed by six weeks working part-time from home (I already work from home part of the week.)

Well, when I presented my plan to my boss, she about had a fit that I wasn't going to resume a full time schedule immediately after my disability runs out. She kept saying that it was not "usual and customary" practice and that company policy says I am supposed to only take off as long as I have disability.

Umm... Excuse me? There IS NO COMPANY POLICY, which you said to me yourself! And most people in this country get a full 12 weeks, so please stop complaining that I am coming back only part time after six! And stop asking me if I will be able to do "any work at all" during the first six weeks! Argh!!!

Ok, vent over. Thank you for letting me add my whining to the party. Let's all move to Canada where parents get a full year of PAID leave...

KateLouise

I don't have quite the same right to complain as some of you ladies, but I'm still being driven a little crazy by my bosses.

I'm a teacher. I told my immediate head of department and my principal at 12 weeks. I let them know roughly when I would go on leave, but that I would put it in writing after the 20 week scan.

Well I'm waiting on management to decide when senior exams will be so that I can schedule one of my assessments and work out the most convenient time to take leave. I'm a Drama teacher, so kind of tricky to take leave in the middle of a senior assessment when all the staging and lighting plans are in my head.

I have asked for this information, and explained why I need to know so early (although why they can't decide these things at the beginning of the school year is beyond me, they know the school has exams every single year). 

So none of this would really matter except my bosses keep cornering me and asking for specific dates of when I'll go on leave. I understand that they want to know to see if they can fill my position with one of the long-term relievers currently in the school, but I don't want to commit to something only to find it would mean walking out 4 days before an assessment performance.

At least I can take two years leave from my job.

niknak1208

@/ewenner- seriously it annoys the crap out of me how ignorant leaders can be. Our director went on and on about work/life balance when I started here over two years ago and she's like the most intolerant person I've ever met!! She just thinks everyone should have no life. The policies she's drafted and approved are All completely intolerant of work life balance. It's ridiculous.

The manager who called me early this week asking if maternity leaves had a right to 12 weeks.... She doesn't even have any pregnant women in her dept currently. She said she's 'concerned' because they've always had mostly older women but they have a bunch on young women coming in. I was like seriously??

jerseygirl227

niknak1208 said:

 She said she's 'concerned' because they've always had mostly older women but they have a bunch on young women coming in. I was like seriously??

Wow.  She better be careful what she says there.  Could be misconstrued as discrimination down the line.

niknak1208

Ding ding ding!!! I mean DUH! Her next statement was even dumber. She says out loud to me in HR .. So we typically don't approve PTO if there are others off at the same time.. Can I tell them no? I said while on FMLA, absolutely not. Geeeesh. I said let me clarify, if a staff member is on FMLA approved leave for ANY reason, you cannot decline them. Period. And this is why we are doing org wide training because clearly it's needed lol

ewenner

Ugh. They just don't get it, do they? When I was meeting with my boss and the HR guy, and boss lady was freaking out about my plan to return part time after six weeks and full time after twelve, she literally turned to the HR guy and said, "That's just not usual and customary. Brad, how long did YOUR wife take off when she was on maternity leave?" Umm... Seriously?!?! I really don't think that's relevant or appropriate to ask, lady!!!

niknak1208

ewenner LOL no.. it's really not appropriate at all for her to have asked that. I just get so annoyed that so many leaders around here think that we can pick and choose who gets FMLA and for how long they get it.  I keep repeating myself. FMLA is not a choice.  You do not get to choose who gets it and who doesn't get it.  I get equally annoyed when so many of them forget what it was like to have young families and think that everyone should just pop out their babies and come back in a few weeks. My director is like that. She has a son but he's grown and she just acts like she has no idea what it's like to be a mom or to be pregnant.. it's craziness. 

jerseygirl227

It is so sad that companies can't just get it.  Crazy that we had to have federal intervention so we could get FMLA.  Just freaking crazy!

I found out today that I will be paid for 24 days of work, which is almost five weeks of leave.  I am pretty happy about that since we are buying the house.  What I am NOT happy about is I will go back to work at the beginning of November with absolutely no leave available.  So, if I get sick, too bad.  (I could stay home, but I have to PAY for my sub at $90 a day.)  If a family member passes, too bad.  

The good news is I WILL start accumulating sick time again in January.

niknak1208

jerseygirl227 Ugh!!!  The pay is nice but coming back to no time sucks.  I'm using almost all of mine.  I'll have about 100 hours of PTO when I go out and i have to use 80 hours toward my waiting period so my first 2 weeks will be paid by my PTO.  Then I'll get 50% pay for 4 weeks after that and then nothing for the remaining 6 weeks of my leave.  I'll come back to a little over 20 hours of PTO.  I'm glad I'll at least have something. I'm nervous about having 3 kids in daycare/school through flu season!!  It literally just depends on the year. Sometimes we get lucky and kids don't get sick much.. other times it's just bad and it seems like I"m always calling in for a sick kid.   DH stayed home this week with DD because she had a fever. That's the first time in the history of us having kids that he's called in sick to work and not me!! 

jerseygirl227

@niknak1208 ... we've already decided that the fiance will be picking up or staying home with Chloe if she's sick.  It's just not economically feasible for me to do so.

ewenner

jerseygirl227 - you have to pay for your sub?!?!?!  How is that even allowed?  Do you have a teachers union?  Yikes!  IThat sucks!

jerseygirl227

ewenner said:

jerseygirl227 - you have to pay for your sub?!?!?!  How is that even allowed?  Do you have a teachers union?  Yikes!  IThat sucks!

Nope.  We are a "right to work" state, which means you can be terminated at any time for no reason.  Arizona sucks for teaching.  (Wish I would have known that before I decided to make teaching my second career, lol.)

I'm not too worried about getting sick, but my grandmother is on hospice (and has been over two years).  We've had a few scares with her since Christmas.  She is bed-ridden and we all know that one day her heart will just say no more.  I'll have to fly back to Jersey when it's time.  Just don't know when that will be.

ewenner

jerseygirl227 - I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother.  That's got to be so much stress on you right now, and I'm sure the time-off situation doesn't help!  Hopefully her heart will keep strong for a while longer.

KaLikeAWind

jerseygirl227 said:

ewenner said:

jerseygirl227 - you have to pay for your sub?!?!?!  How is that even allowed?  Do you have a teachers union?  Yikes!  IThat sucks!

Nope.  We are a "right to work" state, which means you can be terminated at any time for no reason.  Arizona sucks for teaching.  (Wish I would have known that before I decided to make teaching my second career, lol.)

I'm not too worried about getting sick, but my grandmother is on hospice (and has been over two years).  We've had a few scares with her since Christmas.  She is bed-ridden and we all know that one day her heart will just say no more.  I'll have to fly back to Jersey when it's time.  Just don't know when that will be.

I'm real sorry to hear about your grandma, too.

Two big 'ol sarcastic thumbs up with an acid indigestion smile for 'right to work' states. I live in one, too. They're just...awesome. :^o
(Sarcasm font cannot be applied, but if it could, I'd be smearing that stuff on thick)