Employee confronts new boss to higher ups after he reprimands her for missing "mandatory training" during her maternity leave: 'I've literally done nothing wrong'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Dec 9, 2025 4:00 PM EST

Returning to work after maternity leave should not be treated as if you're just coming back from vacation.

Anyone who has spent any time near a new parent knows that this time off is anything but restful. Furthermore, it's not just strongly preferred that parents have that time with their newborns; that time is more than necessary. No one should be retroactively blamed for their absence either. If companies and workplace environments are not set up in such a way that they can proceed without an employee on temporary leave, then that is more reflective of the flaws within the company than any one person's choices. 

This employee returned to work and received the expected slew of missed emails from her time away. However, a large portion of those emails pertained to mandatory training she "skipped" during her time off, as if it were a requirement for her to complete said training while on maternity leave. She attempted to explain the situation to her new boss, who only doubled down and reprimanded her in an email chain with other coworkers attached. 

That's when she absolutely felt compelled to call him out to upper management. Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from several members of the online community.

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  • Let this story serve as yet another reminder that when a new boss comes in and shames an employee to set an example, nine times out of ten they are just doing this for show and actually have no idea what is actually going on. This employee was in no position to complete these hours-long training sessions while she was on maternity leave, and “Hal” would have known that if he had done his due diligence before attempting to give her a hard time.

  • I just came back to work 2 weeks ago after being on maternity leave for a year. During that year there were several company wide trainings that employees had to do, y'know stuff for HR and data
    via VulcanHumour
  • security etc. I had at least 6,000 emails to go through when I came back, and while I was going through the past year's emails | saw multiple emails from HR reprimanding me for not doing the trainings, and my boss
    via VulcanHumour
  • replying to each and every one of them saying "she's on maternity leave, postpone her due date."
    via VulcanHumour
  • I literally finished up the last of these trainings yesterday, there were about 8 hours of all the trainings total and I've been busy
    via VulcanHumour
  • also retraining for my role bc it has 100% changed since I left (company restructuring, including a new boss who is different than the guy emailing everyone about my maternity leave). Anywho,
    via VulcanHumour
  • about 12 hours after I finished the very last training, I'm added to a teams chat with my boss, her boss, and his boss. So all 3 levels above me. The big boss had created the chat and sent a really passive aggressive message
    via VulcanHumour
  • about me not finishing the trainings, saying "They have been published as required for a long time. Confirm that you will get these done."
    via VulcanHumour
  • Now I've never met the big boss, let's call him Hal, he oversees 200+ people, but I've definitely spoken to my boss and her boss,
    via VulcanHumour
  • they both knew I was on maternity leave. But instead of correcting the big boss, they double down, saying I need to email them a confirmation of my completing the trainings (that's
    via VulcanHumour
  • not a standard thing we do for these trainings) and that I'm putting the team in potential violation for mandatory compliance.
    via VulcanHumour
  • I'm fi g raging because this is d around with me, y'all not the first time my company has f don't even want to know the they said about my dad's funeral.
    via VulcanHumour
  • I don't care that everyone sucks up to Hal and see him as such a big honcho. So I reply saying "I wasn't aware that I was meant to do trainings on maternity leave"
    via VulcanHumour
  • and "I completed all of my trainings yesterday, 12 hours before you sent this teams message Hal, just fyi." I then proceeded to forward him all the emails my former boss sent HR
    via VulcanHumour
  • about me being on maternity leave and not being able to do the trainings, as well as the two dozen emails confirming each training was completed.
    via VulcanHumour
  • I know I probably shouldn't be so openly aggressive to Hal, especially in front of my boss and her boss, but fuck them for not standing up for me I've literally done nothing wrong.
    via VulcanHumour
  • A female employee sits opposite two coworkers in a conference room.
    via Tim Gouw

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

  • JFK11a. The fact that your old boss had to repeatedly email HR saying "she's on maternity leave" and they STILL harassed you is wild. And then your current management just threw you
    via VulcanHumour
  • under the bus instead of taking 5 seconds to check the email chain? Nah, you handled that perfectly. Hal needed that reality check, and honestly your bosses deserved to look stupid in front of him for not doing their jobs.
    via VulcanHumour
  • Odd-Egg57 Oh, the first email I saw from HR I'd have been like, "Can you just confirm you require me to undertake training whilst on maternity leave. I'd have said the same to the big boss, but request he put this in writing. See if anyone is stupid enough to put you in a position to sue them.
    via VulcanHumour

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Tags

maternity leave employee employment-discussion work human resources Horrible Bosses
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