‘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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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Oct 18, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

It's not fair when coworkers slack off and expect everyone else to pick up their responsibilities, and being a new mom doesn't change that. 

An office employee's story went viral this week when they were caught venting about one of their employees: A new mother just recently returned from maternity leave.  Before her maternity leave, they had a good relationship with this colleague, but when she returned, they found that she was not willing (or able) to manage her job title's workload. Still insisting on the same salary, the same hours, this woman found a loophole that could help her manage both her mom-life and her work-life—making other people do the work for you! 

This magical little trick worked out in the beginning, when everyone was excited to hear stories of her newborn's first nap or her touching family tales from the maternity ward, but after a few weeks—months, even!—the rest of the office began to tire of carrying her slack. After a while, every coworker who slacks off has karma catch up with them. 

Office karma doesn't care about your new baby; you need to keep up with your work responsibilities. 

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  • Woman with a headache at work
    via Boris Jovanovic

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • AITJ for refusing to pick up my coworker's slack "adjusting to while she's motherhood"?
    via Cautious-Question679
  • 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
    via Cautious-Question679
  • to have her back but since returning, she's been leaving early, missing deadlines, and asking the rest of us to "cover small things."
    via Cautious-Question679
  • 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.
    via Cautious-Question679
  • 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.
    via Cautious-Question679
  • 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?
    via Cautious-Question679
  • 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.
    via Savings-Aioli717
  • 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
    via Tannim44
  • 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.
    via Tannim44
  • 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.
    via Glinda--Witch
  • 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.
    via Rowan--Writer.
  • 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.
    via Signal_Strawberry_3
  • 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
    via catladyclub
  • 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.
    via catladyclub
  • 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
    via sammac66
  • 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.
    via sammac66

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boss worker maternity leave employee manager job work coworkers working moms maternity ceo employees supervisor workplace new mom leave company mom coworker business
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