Pregnant worker announces she intends to work from the hospital while she's in labor since she doesn't qualify for paid maternity leave: 'She will be back to work in 6 weeks and she will have no PTO left'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Apr 3, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Giving birth is a major medical event. Anyone who has ever been through it would tell you as much. Yes, it's natural. Yes, thousands of people do it every day, and yet… it's a big deal. It famously requires all of your energy, and there's not much you can do to stop that. It might even take days. Not to mention the time before and after the actual labor that it takes to prepare and recover. It changes your body and it changes your life. It's nothing to take lightly. 

So why, I ask the heavens, would someone feel obligated to work their day job while they're doing it? Only in a deeply broken system would that happen, and well, folks… we're in one. This worker's story about their coworker's maternity plan left them baffled, wondering what kind of corporate buffoonery would lead them to such a drastic decision, and they took to the internet to rant.

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    Cheezburger Image 10488719104
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Everyone does maternity differently, and every company handles it differently. There is an expectation, though (at least in my mind) that you'll get some comfortable time off as you bring a child into the world. That's not exactly what happened to one soon-to-be mother, though. Read on for the story and see what you think.

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    Pregnant coworker intends to work from the hospital while she is in LABOR.

    I guess this is a rant mostly. I can't believe that we have a work culture where someone thinks responding to emails while they are giving birth is a reasonable thing to do. I understand that there may very well be some downtime at the hospital, but for
    via u/Hangrycouchpotato
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    goodness sake, read a book or do a crossword or something! Our workplace provides PTO, but no dedicated sick leave. She will be using all of her PTO plus unpaid leave for recovery. She will be back to work in 6 weeks and she will have no PTO left. She had not been there long enough to qualify for any paid maternity leave.
    via u/Hangrycouchpotato
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    I feel bad for her and I also feel bad for our team, because she is a newish hire and now we will be short- staffed again because they won't hire a temp. This is not her fault obviously. This is a company/ management problem.
    via u/Hangrycouchpotato
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    Other workers weighed in with ideas on what was driving this decision.

    • Any_Cantaloupe_613 4d ago Is she doing this because she wants to or because she needs the money and only has 6 weeks of leave for recovery and doesn't want to eat into any time with her baby? My guess is that she's not actually a workaholic and that the system in the USA is broken.
    via u/Any_Cantaloupe_613
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    • Emkems 4d ago This. If they do it because they somehow feel obligated bc they're a workaholic that's their choice. If she's doing it because she has absolutely no time to take off that is just disgusting
    via u/Emkems
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    Atwood412 4d ago . I had a job in my 20s where I was views as a workaholic. The thrush was that my husband was laid off, he had cancer, we had bills and my boss was threatening me constantly that I would have a job if I didn't work harder.
    via u/Atwood412
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    DryAd4782 .4d ago When they let her go she will be very surprised. But I worked so hard!
    via u/DryAd4782
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    tatotornado • 4d ago My best friend did this. She was in labor and she was still directing her staff through their open house. She had like 4 months of paid time off, but still refused to stop working until she had to push.
    via u/tatotornado
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    OkPickle2474 · 4d ago I had to have a very frank discussion with a teammate of mine due to something like this. We are hourly employees, very little of what we do is emergent. She was giving out her personal cell phone and accepting texts
    via u/OkPickle2474
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    and calls at all hours including weekends. Checking email and Teams at all hours and responding immediately. This isn't an expectation of our direct boss, but it created the expectation among people we
    via u/OkPickle2474
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    work with that we are all available at all hours. It caused some strife for the rest of us who are also doing a great job but maintain more boundaries. She is finally getting the message.
    via u/OkPickle2474
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    pl487 • 4d ago Everyone gets to play the game the way they think is best. I can think of no better way to send the message "I am absolutely coming back after maternity leave" than to answer emails during labor.
    via u/pl487
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    3M... . 4d ago Edited 4d ago Management needs to cut off her access to the server. If she notes that she is working while giving birth, this situation will reflect badly on everyone. (It sounds like this may be her first time giving birth. She will find that she is not able to work or do it well.) Let coworkers know they cannot contact her while she is on parental leave.
    via u/3Maltese
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    Cheezburger Image 10488719360
    via Jimmy Conover

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    missannthrope1 · 4d ago . Tell her the only people who will remember how hard she worked are her kids.
    via u/missannthrope1
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    Charlie2and4 4d ago Is the USA great again? Just hang that baby carrier in a tree and get back into the field! Without FMLA, a complicated or routine pregnancy is a termination from work. So don't work one thinks, but understand it takes an adult's salary and $8000-$12000 in medical bills to birth and care for a child.
    via u/Charlie2and4
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    bnc_sprite_1.4d ago As someone who works at the hospital & has worked in L&D, that's ridiculous. I can understand working up until you go into labor, but working while in labor is stupid.
    via u/bnc_sprite_1
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    Independent-Mud1... 4d ago I once worked with a lady that was back to work after birth, with like 2 weeks. She did what she had to do, her mom watched the kids.
    via u/Independent-Mud1514
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    rainbowglowstixx • 4d ago No. This isn't "work culture", this is what she allows. She's choosing to work while in labor. And people like this are the very issue when it comes to getting workplaces to respect that working 40 hours a week and not working while sick should be enough.
    via u/rainbowglowstixx
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    I blame her and people like her. Because normal people will do their 9-5 or call out when sick, but now you have this "superwoman" working while in labor. The invisible bar now higher, if not astronomical. The expectation is now you can work from a hospital bed.
    via u/rainbowglowstixx
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    BTW, if you're in labor, I wouldn't call it "down time" in between. It's labor. She should be on leave at this point. Depending on her company size, she might qualify for FMLA. Depending on her state, she might have mandated sick time.
    via u/rainbowglowstixx
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    Prior_Benefit8453 . 4d ago I worked for the legislature in my state. One of the women in a critical department was due during session. She was back within days of the birth. This wasn't the office or policy. I had a baby in the middle of session too (April). I worked up to 8.5 months. Then I didn't return to work until late fall.
    via u/Prior_Benefit8453
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    Several of us thought that worker was nuts. How could she prioritize her work over her body and her newborn? This was well before any of us WFH. I wouldn't have thought it was good to WFH immediately after the birth. But physically going into the office??
    via u/Prior_Benefit8453
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    IOU123334 • 4d ago In all honesty, she's contributing to a potentially toxic workplace. Now, if someone else is on maternity or paternity leave, they may feel the need to jump online (even for a little bit).
    via u/IOU123334
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    I can imagine there may be reasons as to why she feels pressured or maybe some historical work context that may have contributed to her decision, but in this market they'll lay you off for no reason at all. Companies are hemorrhaging people, and being let go from a toxic environment wouldn't be the first instance of it happening, not even the thousandth instance.
    via u/IOU123334
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    Now, as a coworker, I would probably lightly bring up concern during conversation "what are you doing working rn?, you should be resting! What do you need help with? Blah blah blah". Tbh part of that is for care of the coworker but mainly to reaffirm norms and show that it's not normal to be working like that, bc I'd want someone to shoo me away from work if I were in her shoes.
    via u/IOU123334

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boss antiwork workplace-stories maternity leave toxic-workplace job bosses work coworkers working reddit story toxic-boss PTO workplace pregnant reddit thread bad bosses Reddit toxic-work-environment
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