Being asked to work while on maternity leave

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Forum -> Working Women

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amother

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:46 am

Hi Ladies,

My baby is a few weeks old and I am on leave. The person who took over for me asks me a lot of questions which I am mostly OK with because it's just quick answers but my boss just emailed me that she needs some reports asap. If it was something that would take me 10 min I would be annoyed that she didn't ask if this is something I can do instead of just assuming I would do it, but I would probably just do it since it would be so quick. However, what she is asking for will take me probably 2-3 hours to prepare. What would you do? I emailed back that since this would take me a significant amount of time and is not easy for me to do (my baby is still so young!) that I would need to be compensated for my time. Do you think my response was appropriate? On the one hand I don't want them to think I'm penny pinching but on the other hand I think it was chutzpah to assume I would just do it let alone without pay. Have you ever been in a similar situation?

boysrus

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:48 am

amother OP wrote:

Its a chutzpah of them to ask you! wow. you are on maternity leave! Tell them you cant do it right now. They need to ask somebody else. Maternity leave means that you are on leave. you are not available to work right now. Period.

bsy

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:50 am

I wouldn't respond. You are on leave and do not have to be available to work. The point of leave is that you are not working What

Highstrung

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:53 am

Where I work the managers would be disciplined if they ask an employee to work while out on maternity leave. They are super strict about it. You should say that you are out now and can’t . Compensation won’t help make it easier for you. You need to be able to be on leave. Period.

WhatFor

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:54 am

This is insane and I don't know how this is legal. They should have trained your cover before you took mat leave. I can't believe you're questioning whether you're entitled to pay for work during mat leave?!

You're entitled to say no. It's inappropriate to contact me about work during my mat leave. This place sounds toxic, I'm so sorry.

bsy

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:57 am

A relative of mine was asked to come in to work a couple of hours while on leave. It was totally not legal and when hr found out, they were very upset. It's a huge liability

ysydmom

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:58 am

If you are on leave it's like your on vacation you don't have to respond I would politely let them know that you are unavailable until you return to the office and leave it at that.

amother

Candycane

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 9:59 am

I did it once. I am a teacher and my replacement did a terrible job on report cards. The principal asked me as a personal favor. I did it for her and the students, but she really shouldn't have asked. It was technically illegal.

amother

Freesia

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 10:00 am

bsy wrote:

I wouldn't respond. You are on leave and do not have to be available to work. The point of leave is that you are not working What

This!

Or wait a day or 3.

When I was on leave there was one person who kept bugging me because he was lazy, I left precise notes, and he didn't bother reading them.

I either didn't answer or waited a few days to answer.

The person I trained I answered pretty quickly, because it wasn't a bother, and it was based on SOPs that I created so there was no one else to ask, usually within a day.

My boss rarely rarely bothered, and always prefaced by apologizing. At around 8 weeks he asked a question and I answered immediately, it was a quick question, he called me up and said he was so surprised I answered so fast and offered me to come back earlier remotely if I was up to it... (we had this discussed this possibilty prior to my leave. But I was down in a way that was no pressure..)

Your boss has a chutzpah to just assume you'll do it.

You have to put you and your recovery and bonding with the baby first

amother

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 10:02 am

It is a very unprofessional place. They are not trying to be rude but its very small and they are just clueless. Thank you for all the support ladies. I emailed back again saying that I thought more about it and this is not something I can do.

amother

Saddlebrown

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 10:08 am

My company would have fired the person taking over for you for reaching out even a single time - HR goes wild to prevent people from working on FMLA leave. They’ve even disabled someone’s access to our database when they found out that they did a few minutes of work while on leave. They reenabled it when the person got back.

So not okay. They need to be put in their place!

amother

Forestgreen

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 10:08 am

The answer is no I'm not available. Rinse and repeat. Compensation won't help you. Especially because you may not be allowed to get paid disability if you're still getting money from your place of employment. So no. Just no.

tichellady

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 10:11 am

I would not respond or say " I am on leave right now"

amother

Forestgreen

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 10:14 am

amother Candycane wrote:

In my girls' school, if a teacher is no maternity leave at report card time, she either does it before she goes on leave or when the teacher comes back to school. They don't ask substitutes to do report cards and nothing will happen if report cards are late.

Iymnok

Tue, Jun 06 2023, 10:22 am

Offer to do it if paid by the hour. Charge an insane amount. Your time is extremely precious right now.

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