<ol>
<li>My Daughter in Law, Full-Time Veterinarian, pregnant, due in December</li>
<li>Vet Clinic open from 7AM-11PM</li>
<li>3 Full Time Doctors, 1-Part Time Doctor</li>
</ol>
<p>These doctors are paid on commision only. No base salary. Office enviorment has been hostile the last few months. Even more hostile when pregancy was annouced. DIL has planned leave from Mid-Dec to March. October schedule was posted and she had 5 days off, 3 being requested vacation days. Other doctors have 9 days or more off. She has one stretch where she is working 13 straight days. When she asked why, they told her it was not fair that she would be off for “vacation”, December-March and she needed to make up for it. She of course wants to just hold out because she really can’t afford to lose her job (I have told them she might not be able afford to keep it either, for health reasons)</p>
<p>I have been out of the corporate world for a really long time, but does this not have pregnancy discrimation writen all over it? She feels they are doing this to try to get her to quit. She has student loans and for her quitting is not an option.</p>
<p>Also to add, during that 13 day stretch, there are 9 night shifts. Night shift doctors don’t take breaks because it is an emergancy clinic and she will be the only doctor there during that time. She has also stated that it is rare that she even has time to eat a meal at work. (because there is no relief doctor)</p>
<p>Sounds like an “oops,” to me. The idea that a pregnant woman is held to different expectations, based on the pregnancy-? It would be different if she had asked for extra hours, knowing her income would drop after December. </p>
<p>But, some of the legalities depend on the number of employees. “An employer must have at least 15 employees to be covered by federal law banning pregnancy discrimination. If you work for a smaller employer, check with your state or local government to see if you are protected by their anti-discrimination laws.”</p>
<p>In theory, if her OB has concerns about the schedule, there are supposed to be accommodations- but the size of the work group could be a factor.</p>
Sounds like discrimination to me. She will not be out on vacation, it’s a disability leave.</p>
<p>In fact, she could always go out on disability now, or threaten to. I’m sure her doctor would back her up that she is unable to do this much work while 6-8 months pregnant.</p>
<p>Maybe that will get their attention.</p>
<p>In the meantime, start documenting everything - every comment, every incident of hostile behavior, every unfair schedule.</p>
<p>x-posted. Yes, they are supposed to be confidential. Considering she is about 6+ months pregnant, I’d say call now, as it’s a tough period. Or, if you know enough details, you call for her, for the first info. Good luck.</p>
<p>I think one bottom line is, if another employee anticipated a leave for medical reasons, would they have him/her work more hours prior?</p>
<p>Adding: The state group may be called the Fair Employment Practices Agency.</p>
<p>A consultation with an attorney who deals with these things might be in order. Free consults are often available and that would be confidential. The attorney can tell her exactly what rights are being violated and what she could and should do. She needs to have very specific info about how many people are at her firm and what acts cover her and what the consequences of any reports can be. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the reality of the situation often is that there are all kinds of loopholes regarding these sort of things. I have seen people fired in violation of many protective laws and the way it is done is with increased scrutiny and documentation of every little thing, an extremely stressful thing for any employee, more so a pregnant one. If the practice is doing this to harass your D already, who knows if she will have a job for long when she returns. Yes, i’ve seen jobs eliminated while people are on medical leave and there are ways around the law or to skirt it, or breaking it but making it terribly onerous for anyone to nail the employers. </p>
<p>Personally, what I would do is make sure that what is being done here is discriminatory under the law by consulting with an attorney and then very nicely let the office manager know and request that the schedule be changed, assuring him/her that it was certainly a mistake because no company would do something blatently illegal. Most companies, organizations don’t , and many do not know when they are crossing the line. They should but they don’t. If they are flagrentl breaking the law and are already out to harrass your D, then she is probably in for a lot more harassment and may lose her job anyways. IT’s not like walking on eggshells is necessarily going to save you when you want/need that block of time off and the company really does not want to give it to you.</p>
<p>I’d also be concerned about what sort of schedule they plan to give her when she returns from maternity leave. I agree; she should speak to an attorney.</p>
<p>Wow. Just wow. What happens if she gets kicked or bitten by an injured or ill animal? My OB didn’t want me even changing cat litter when I was pregnant due to risk of toxoplasmosis (IIRC, maybe I just claimed that to my DH, LOL)</p>
<p>Looking forward to hearingthe update. Agree, this is not a “vacation”. Thats outrageous. Surely their corporate bylaws have provisions for health/maternity/STD leave.</p>
<p>You said she is paid on commission only. Does that mean she is a contractor, not an employee? That would make a difference in the legalities involved.</p>
<p>Tell her to open her own office after the baby is born :)</p>
<p>Yes that ^^ and the language about being a contractor. My thought would be to see if she can find another vet to job-share with during the rest of the pregnancy and that job-share person could pick up hours the two months she’s on leave. There’s always the possibility that there wouldn’t be many if any hours when she returns but it might be a transition solution. Many people work right up to the day they give birth (I did 3x) but then I wasn’t lifting heavy animals or on my feet for hours at a time…she should also talk to her physician about recommendations for the end of the pregnancy when there are balance issues, water retention issues and all the yucky part of the last month or so. Hopefully part of her contract covered disability (short and/or long-term).</p>
<p>The work place once the take over was complete has always been tough, not specifically for her, but for everyone. She feels once the pregnancy was announced, she became a target via scheduling, etc. She is an employee. She has a “pay” contract but is considered a full time employee at the company with benefits, etc.</p>
<p>There could be a more benign explanation. The other two full time vets may want to take some time off now and not work the night shifts because they will have to pick up the slack from December to March. They may not be able to take days off, or vacation, etc. or be really short staffed during the months your DIL is out. They may be worried about customers going to other clinics if the wait times to be seen are too long.</p>
<p>It’s a long shot, but here goes -
I have heard (this would esp apply to a small company where a raise in rates is not easy to overlook) that in when an employee makes a large medical claim (like a pregnancy/delivery) that an insurance company can raise the rates for everyone. So, maybe the medical insurance rates went up and they are blaming her.</p>
<p>Maybe she should have kept her legs shut…
That was a joke, a rather inappropriate one. But on a serious note, I do agree with you and the majority of the posts on this thread. They are trying to push her out of the job. Unless she has the spirit to fight it, might just be best to succumb to defeat and start looking for something else.</p>
<p>Tating could be right, though any actual harassment is not ok. From a certain point of view, it does make sense that if Doctors X and Y are going to be splitting the night shifts between 2 people for 3 months, that Doctor Z pull some extra weight there before leaving. That’s more or less what happens on most teams at work when someone’s taking a long vacation. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong here, since a pregnancy is different than a break, but it may not be malicious.</p>
<p>It sounds like pregnancy discrimination, but not sure if it would legally be that, depending on her classification. I think she has to be an employee, not any sort of partner or otherwise…or own a stake in the business, in order to be protected under any laws.</p>