Pregnant school administrator gets denied permission to work from home 1 week before her due date, takes revenge on manager: 'I immediately went to HR'

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Jun 4, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

In a just world, nobody would have to work when pregnant if they didn't want to. Unfortunately, that's not the world we live in, and in the good old U S of A it's not uncommon to see women grinding until they pop. 

Companies and managers aren't always sympathetic to the struggle, either. This is what one school administrator found out the hard way when the health issues she was experiencing in the last weeks of pregnancy led her to make a request to her supervisor to work from home until she gave birth. When this was denied on the grounds that it was one of the busiest times of the year, she knew it was time to enact some malicious compliance. 

It's fair to say that all Redditors felt like this revenge was 100% deserved. That manager was lucky that she didn't go into labor in the workplace just to please them.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10356715264
    via Suhyeon Choi
  • 02
    r/MaliciousCompliance r/ u/PetitePeachPep⚫ 10h I should talk to HR about leave if I'm legitimately having trouble at work 1 week before my due date? Sure thing boss. M
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 03
    This happened last year. I (F31) was 1 week away from my due date and was working full time in a school administration position. At this time I had the capability to work from home if needed (ex. too sick to come in to work, catchup on extra work, unable to secure daycare for my child, etc). When I accepted the position (prior to my pregnancy) I was told by my boss (let's call her Ronnie) that it was very flexible as long as I got my hours in. I very rarely worked from home and typically only di
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 04
    Being so close to my due date, I was experiencing physical hardships that made working on site more and more difficult such as dizzy spells, a pulled tendon in my foot, and severe back pain. I was also scared of potentially going into labor while at work with it being so far away from the hospital my obgyn delivers at. To top it all off, my coworkers started asking more invasive questions about my pregnancy that made me uncomfortable. All in all, it was not a fun time.
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 05
    I explained all of this in an email to Ronnie and asked for her permission to almost exclusively work from home up until I go into labor. I said I thought it would be a reasonable accommodation and I work really well from home.
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 06
    Ronnie responded a couple days later denying my request to work from home at all and said I needed to be there since we would be starting some of our busiest work in a couple months (which I would be gone for on maternity leave anyways, so I'm not sure why she brought it up...), but I could talk to HR about leave options if I am truly having trouble working. (BTW, it is illegal in my state to require an employee to take leave if there is a reasonable accommodation that can be made instead).
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 07
    Cue malicious compliance. I immediately went to HR and did just that. We talked about options and found out I could start my leave the very next day and still be paid state mandatory leave pay for the extra time.
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 08
    I informed Ronnie that I would be out starting the next day as I needed to take care of myself. She said, "I understand you need to do what's best for you, but you need to understand that I need to do what's best for the team".
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 09
    to So, ya, everything I normally managed basically went in my absence as the other people on the team weren't qualified to do the work and kept taking time off leading up to my due date instead of learning the basics while I was still there to teach them. I left detailed procedure notes and workflow lists, but I later found out Ronnie had to pick up all the extra work and a lot of it never got done since she didn't have time. But it was best for the team right boss?
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 10
    Pizza_Lvr 10h to suck! Good for you OP! I'm glad you got some well deserved paid time off to rest before the baby got here
    via Pizza_lvr
  • 11
    Petite PeachPep OP • 10h Thank you! ♥It ended up being extremely valuable time off for sure... for 2 weeks then we had to induce lol
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 12
    revchewie 10h "I need to do what's best for the team." And apparently it's better to not have you work at all than to have you work from home. Manglement can be so effing stupid!
    via revchewie
  • 13
    Popular-Way-7152 9h I have never, ever understood this. It applies to all kinds of temporary impairments, not just pregnancy. When a chemically-sensitive employee was denied remote work the day after the carpet was to be shampooed ... When an employee using crutches was denied a teaching schedule with rooms near one another for three weeks... When a pregnant employee wants to bring in a personal recliner chair to elevate her feet periodically... And they're all told to take sick leave instead. L
    via Popular-Way-7512
  • 14
    Kitchen-Arm7300 8h I will say that you were lucky to have had an upstanding and legitimate HR that was willing to acknowledge your basic human needs.
    via Kitchen-Arm7300
  • 15
    deshep123 9h I will never understand the short-sitedness of management.
    via deshep123
  • 16
    officialraylong 7h It's very simple: business "culture" self-selects sociopaths.
    via officialraylong
  • 17
    frozenflame101 9h Wait, you were expected to be working 1 week before your due date? Is this normal where you are? I swear people here normally start pregnancy leave 3-4 weeks ahead of their due date. In part, I'm sure, because going into labour at work sounds like a great way to generate avoidable paperwork
    via frozenflame101
  • 18
    Petite PeachPep OP ⚫ 8h Federally, we have 12 weeks unpaid leave. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my son before returning to work. My state has its own policy for partial paid leave and I used all of my PTO to fill as much of the gap up as possible as well during my leave. HR helped me discover I could get 2 weeks extra for my pregnancy leave which was separate from my maternity leave. I wasnt aware of it previously. The HR team rocked and kept me sane.
    via PetitePeachPep
  • 19
    youassassin 9h I'll never understand this mindset. I'm at a good company with good management. We had a lady that we made come in a week before her due date that was WFH pretty much since 4 months. We threw her a surprise party. I think three days later she had her 4th kid so cute.
    via youassassin
  • 20
    mastidonianJT 4h Pregnancies are ability unique in exposing idiotic management. There is a time bomb, literally growing in front of everyone's eyes as a reminder it exists. Everyone knows exactly when it will detonate. I've never worked in a place where management takes steps to cover. Until like two weeks before leave starts. I think I'm just going to quit the next time I see this.
    via mastidonianJT
  • 21
    authenticmolo 5h Ah, school administration. Where people too incompetent to work in a private business can become leaders! Sounds like Ronnie is one of those. She'll be there for the rest of her life, doing a bad job. You sound like you are one of the good ones, though. God bless you. People like you are the reason that public schools work at all, and people like Ronnie are why they
    via authenticmolo

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maternity leave pregnancy school manager malicious compliance revenge work administration working petty revenge reddit thread Reddit
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