Single mom Lena returns from maternity leave, dumps mountains of work onto coworker Daria, who finally goes to HR when the workload becomes too much: ‘It became full accounts with notes saying "Daria will handle."’

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Etai Eshet • Editor
Dec 5, 2025 10:00 AM EST

The small billing department turns into a one-person group project when one coworker returns from maternity leave and slowly starts treating flexibility like free labor. At first the extra help feels normal. A few invoices here, some statements there, the kind of thing you do when someone is exhausted and trying to keep a baby and a job alive at the same time. Then the favors quietly evolve into full accounts landing on one desk with neat little notes saying who will handle them, and spoiler, it is never the person who is supposed to own the work.

Weeks go by and the pattern sticks. One person is staying late, making more mistakes, feeling their brain get foggier and foggier. The other is still technically meeting targets, because the supervisor only looks at the department totals and not who is actually slogging through the mess. Every time the imbalance comes up, the same lines appear. You are better with details anyway. Being a single mom is hard. Office banter turns the situation into a joke about being the work wife who keeps everything together, which is a cute way of saying unpaid assistant.

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  • AITJ for going to HR after my coworker kept dumping her work on me

    Stressed young woman in a blazer speaking on the phone while working on her laptop, surrounded by paperwork and a coffee cup at her desk. with a quote: "Some days half my workload was hers. I started staying late, making mistakes and getting stressed"
    via SibRapid

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

  • I work in a mid sized office doing billing. My team is small, just me, another woman "Lena" and our supervisor.
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  • When Lena came back from maternity leave, our boss asked everyone to be "flexible" while she adjusted.
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  • I had no problem helping at first. If she needed to leave a bit early, I would finish an invoice batch or answer a few extra calls.
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  • It felt fair and I do like her as a person. Over time it slowly turned into Lena just sliding anything she did not feel like doing onto my desk.
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  • At first it was "Can you send those statements for me, the baby didnt sleep and my brain is fried." Then it became full accounts with notes saying "Daria will handle." Some days half my workload was hers.
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  • Frustrated woman at her desk holding her head in stress while working on a laptop, surrounded by paperwork, a coffee cup, and office supplies.
    via SibRapid

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

  • I started staying late, making mistakes and getting stressed. Our supervisor only looks at the total department numbers, so it looked like we were both hitting targets.
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  • When I hinted that I was overwhelmed, Lena said I was "better with details anyway" and reminded me that being a single mom is hard.
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  • Coworkers would joke that I was her "work wife" who keeps everything together. After one week where she called out twice and left me with a mountain of urgent tasks, I snapped a bit.
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  • I documented how many accounts I had been assigned that were originally hers and scheduled a meeting with HR.
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  • I tried to frame it as a workload issue, not an attack. Yesterday Lena was called into a meeting and came out red eyed.
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  • Now half the office is cold toward me and someone actually said I "threw a struggling mom under the bus for a few spreadsheets".
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  • I feel guilty but also weirdly relieved that someone finally noticed the imbalance. AITJ for going to HR instead of just sucking it up or confronting her directly again
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  • Vegetable-Jury-6804 Sorry, you'll be doing her whole job soon enough, anyone that complains can take on her extra work
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  • Spinlggy I would have taked to the supervisor and said i was returning all her accounts to her because I could no longer handle doing both of your jobs unless they were willing to give you a substantial raise or start paying you overtime. I would then give the accounts back to Lena and tell her if she can't handle her job anymore, she needs to make arrangements to go half the so the can hire another half time employee, but you are no longer available to do her work for her. Then, if she starts p
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  • Front Tour1583 Someone actually said in quotes "you threw a struggling mom under the bus for a few spreadsheets" and that someone wasn't chat gpt?
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  • Icewaterchrist I don't know why you're so upset about an Al colleague and an Al job.
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  • ajax2476 How the f is half the office going to be cold to you when it's the 3 of you?
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  • Technical-Paper427 Al bot again?
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  • Mrchameleon_dec Nta. You're not obligated to do her work.
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  • Malleabledarkfire Wasnt this story posted a week back? Even the namr was the same
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  • Glinda-The-Witch NTJ. You shouldn't have to defend yourself to your coworkers who are not directly involved in this situation. Clearly they saw how much of the slack you were picking up. If they continue to give you the cold shoulder it's only because Lena is providing them with details regarding your complaint, she is creating a hostile work environment. The best thing you can say to anyone who gives you a hard time is "I see it differently". It sounds to me as if you did tell lena that you wer
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  • RJack151 NTJ. Tell the office part that is cold, that it is better that you did not have HR give you most of her paycheck since you were doing most of her job.
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  • Eventually the numbers on the page tell the story better than any casual complaint. Once the extra files get tracked and written down, the problem stops being a feeling and starts being data. HR steps in, conversations happen, and suddenly the person who built their comfort on someone else’s back leaves a meeting in tears. Office politics flip, and the one who spoke up gets painted as the villain who hurt a struggling mom. Underneath the guilt sits a quieter truth. Setting a boundary does not become wrong just because other people preferred the imbalance.

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management workplace discussion employment issues boss workplace-stories hr manager bosses work coworkers colleague PTO managers supervisor workplace work-life balance
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