‘I can’t keep taking on her workload’: New mother can't keep up with work responsibilities after returning from maternity leave, then she's stunned when her colleagues start refusing to pick up the slack

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  • Woman with a headache at work
  • AITJ for refusing to pick up my coworker's slack "adjusting to while she's motherhood"?
  • I (33F) work in a small office with about eight people. One of my coworkers, "Jamie" (30F), came back from maternity leave three months ago. Everyone was happy
  • to have her back but since returning, she's been leaving early, missing deadlines, and asking the rest of us to "cover small things."
  • At first, we all tried to help. But it's constant now. I finally told my manager I can't keep taking on her workload, especially since she's still getting full-time pay while I'm working extra hours.
  • Word got back to Jamie, and she confronted me saying I "threw her under the bus" and that I "should support other women." I said I do but supporting women doesn't mean being exploited.
  • Now some coworkers think I was too harsh, and my manager is trying to "balance compassion with fairness." AITJ for refusing to pick up the slack?
  • Savings-Aioli717 NTJ. "Support women" doesn't mean "do their job." You're not her stand-in, you're her coworker. Compassion has limits, especially when it starts cutting into your own sanity.
  • Tannim44. NTJ, your coworkers think you were "harsh" because they don't want to get stuck doing the extra work now that you've stood up for yourself. Your boss has several options that will "balance compassion with fairness" and
  • needs to either start someone overtime for covering for Jamie or your boss can step in and cover for Jamie. This isn't your problem to solve with your unpaid labor.
  • Glinda-The-Witch NTA if someone chooses to have a child and work a full-time job that's their responsibility to figure out how to balance their work and home life. She wouldn't ask you to go to her home and clean her house because she's got too much to do at work. Why should she ask you to do her job because she's got too much to do at home.
  • Rowan-The-Writer. Not your monkey, not your circus. You weren't the one who decided to have a kid, and then expect people at your work to just stop their jobs to help you with yours. NTJ, focus on your work.
  • Signal_Strawberry_3 NTJ. I worked until my last day of pregnancy, and came back after 8 weeks. Didn't missed a step because I did not want to make motherhood my personality. My baby is 16 months and no one was responsible to pick up after me.
  • catladyclub ⚫ NTJ... she has a job she is getting paid to do. Many women have babies and are able to come back and do their job. There are millions of working moms out here. She is just using
  • it as her excuse. Supporting someone is an emotion, doing her job is a whole other thing. She wants you to do her job while she gets paid. That is emotional manipulation.
  • sammac66. There's nothing wrong with helping out a little when she first returns but it sounds to me like she's taking advantage. She's using the fact that she's a mother to exploit you and her
  • other coworkers and get you guys to pick up the slack and do her work. She can't handle working full-time then maybe she should talk to her boss about doing Flex hours and maybe hiring someone part-time to pick up her slack.

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