UPDATE to hulk smashing.

[meganew]

Original post from yesterday: pandce.proboards.com/thread/352694/hulk-smash

I finally got in touch with someone after calling 3 more times and getting upset on the phone. I had been calling/emailing all day and my H was getting pissed (not at me) about the insurance/not communicating, which was stressing me even worse.

So the woman they hired to do their HR called me (she works for an outside organization, not just for the school) and told me that 12 weeks was it. THEN she went on about how the school was being "overly generous" and it was the teachers fault for expecting more than was stipulated by law and basically made me feel like I was being greedy and selfish. Even though she admitted the policy in our contract was "extremely vague" and holding positions for a year had become the norm since it had been done for years. But don't worry! Her firm came in and made sure it was 12 weeks across the board so it would be fair for everyone!

At this point I started crying. Hard. The stress and frustration of everything hit me and I couldn't stop it. Through my embarrassing sobs I told her that holding teaching positions for a year is generally the norm for all teaching contracts and has been in place in every other school I've worked at, and I don't understand how it's "overly generous" if the school to hold our spots for a year considering they pay a long term sub less than they'd be paying me and I wouldn't be getting pay or benefits for the year I'm off.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that she said they knew they were going to put this policy in place at the beginning of LAST year, but didn't start to enforce it until right now. And it's not like they told anyone about it! They knew all year long that this was going to change and said nothing! I told her this information would have been great to have prior to getting pregnant, not 8.5 months along.

Whatever. Now I know and I plan on resigning today. I can't burn bridges, since as the lady told me "You can always reapply for your job next year!" but I really want to flip everyone off Homer Simpson style on my way out.

[candreco]

Holy shit. There's no one else actually in the administration to appeal to other than this outside contractor HR bitch that has apparently zero familiarity with education employment?

[alicenelson]

That bites. What a bunch of asswipes.

[jeaniebueller]

Ugh I am sorry. That sucks.

[meganew]

Jul 30, 2014 6:39:23 GMT -5 candreco said:

Holy shit. There's no one else actually in the administration to appeal to other than this outside contractor HR bitch that has apparently zero familiarity with education employment?

She was my last person to go to. Everyone passed me off to her. She was "shocked" that teachers could have positions held for a year anywhere else and she had never heard of that! How the fuck are you doing HR for a school and you have no idea what's usually in a teachers contract?!

[meganew]

AND now because of all this shit, I will now be delivering under H's insurance instead of my own. Which means we'll be paying out almost $1,000 for copays for the hospital stay instead of the $0 it would have cost me under my insurance that we assumed I would be using. Great.

My mom was like "Go in and work, deliver, then tell them you can't come back. Fuck them- they're not looking out for you, why should you look out for them!" And I actually considered it for a flamefully long amount of time.

[mcmel]

I'm so sorry They suck.

[VeryViolet]

Jul 30, 2014 6:46:48 GMT -5 meganew said:

AND now because of all this shit, I will now be delivering under H's insurance instead of my own. Which means we'll be paying out almost $1,000 for copays for the hospital stay instead of the $0 it would have cost me under my insurance that we assumed I would be using. Great.

My mom was like "Go in and work, deliver, then tell them you can't come back. Fuck them- they're not looking out for you, why should you look out for them!" And I actually considered it for a flamefully long amount of time.

How much would it be to do cobra for you only until you deliver? You may want to look into that.

ETA I hit post too fast. I am sorry you are dealing with this what a bitch. I cannot believe a school has such a poor grasp on hr and leave policies. What a bitch.

[nerdicorn]

That HR lady is a fucking bitch, and LOL that 12 weeks leave is "generous". Maternity leave is a joke in this country. I'm sorry

[Deleted]

I'm sorry. That really is a raw deal.

[saywhatnow]

Jul 30, 2014 6:46:48 GMT -5 meganew said:

AND now because of all this shit, I will now be delivering under H's insurance instead of my own. Which means we'll be paying out almost $1,000 for copays for the hospital stay instead of the $0 it would have cost me under my insurance that we assumed I would be using. Great.

My mom was like "Go in and work, deliver, then tell them you can't come back. Fuck them- they're not looking out for you, why should you look out for them!" And I actually considered it for a flamefully long amount of time.

If only this could in some way screw over the HR bitch and not the teachers you work with, I'd be ALL over that solution.

[lizrd7579]

I'm so sorry! I was hoping for a little better outcome I know in Ohio, teachers have the option for a year without pay. You're not guaranteed your same position, but they'll have one for you when you go back. That lady is ridiculous.

[Jalapeñomel]

I'm sorry. Hugs

[my4girls]

Jul 30, 2014 7:09:20 GMT -5 saywhatnow said:

Jul 30, 2014 6:46:48 GMT -5 meganew said:

AND now because of all this shit, I will now be delivering under H's insurance instead of my own. Which means we'll be paying out almost $1,000 for copays for the hospital stay instead of the $0 it would have cost me under my insurance that we assumed I would be using. Great.

My mom was like "Go in and work, deliver, then tell them you can't come back. Fuck them- they're not looking out for you, why should you look out for them!" And I actually considered it for a flamefully long amount of time.

If only this could in some way screw over the HR bitch and not the teachers you work with, I'd be ALL over that solution.

would this screw over the teachers? they must have been planning for you to be off for the year and have a long term sub already in place right? I would do it if it wouldn't screw over anyone I worked with. They really fucked you over

[hereigo]

UGH. I am so sorry.

[MixedBerryJam]

Jul 30, 2014 6:53:55 GMT -5 nerdicorn said:

That HR lady is a fucking bitch, and LOL that 12 weeks leave is "generous". Maternity leave is a joke in this country. I'm sorry

Isn't 12 weeks the minimum required by FMLA? (ETA: IDK if you're in Canada, though.) I'm sorry this sucks for you, meganew. If you were planning on starting this school year, I'd seriously consider what your mom suggested. Eff them. Tell them you're not coming back at 11 weeks, 4 days. For real.

[meganew]

Jul 30, 2014 7:32:10 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

Jul 30, 2014 6:53:55 GMT -5 nerdicorn said:

That HR lady is a fucking bitch, and LOL that 12 weeks leave is "generous". Maternity leave is a joke in this country. I'm sorry

Isn't 12 weeks the minimum required by FMLA? (ETA: IDK if you're in Canada, though.) I'm sorry this sucks for you, meganew. If you were planning on starting this school year, I'd seriously consider what your mom suggested. Eff them. Tell them you're not coming back at 11 weeks, 4 days. For real.

Yep. The bare minimum. And I get that it's the standard for other places, but it wasn't the case here. And they let us believe all year long that this was still the policy until "oops, sorry! Nevermind!"

My concern is that I need letters of rec from my principal so I can apply for other jobs next year and I dont want to burn any bridges. Plus, didn't someone on here once say that they can come back at you for the cost of your insurance during your maternity leave if you don't come back?

[nerdicorn]

Jul 30, 2014 7:32:10 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

Jul 30, 2014 6:53:55 GMT -5 nerdicorn said:

That HR lady is a fucking bitch, and LOL that 12 weeks leave is "generous". Maternity leave is a joke in this country. I'm sorry

Isn't 12 weeks the minimum required by FMLA? I'm sorry this sucks for you, meganew. If you were planning on returning this school year, I'd seriously consider what your mom suggested. Eff them. Tell them you're not coming back at 11 weeks, 4 days. For real.

Yup, and that's unpaid leave. Paid is solely at the employer's discretion. And businesses /employers only have to offer 12 weeks to full time employees, and that's only if they employee over a certain number of people.

I had to go on bed rest at 38 weeks while pregnant, then had my maternity leave notice rejected by corporate at my job for not working enough hours leading up to my official notice for those two weeks to be considered a full time employee any more. They then directed my manager to fire me, and there is fuck all I could do. Because my manager was/is a good person she found a way to terminate me so she could rehire me whenever I was ready, but I lost a weeks worth of paid vacation as a result.

Our maternity leave is a joke and basically gives corporate America carte blanche to treat women like second class citizens. Just thinking about the total lack of comprehensive laws and protections makes me see red.

[mala]

Jul 30, 2014 7:32:10 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

Jul 30, 2014 6:53:55 GMT -5 nerdicorn said:

That HR lady is a fucking bitch, and LOL that 12 weeks leave is "generous". Maternity leave is a joke in this country. I'm sorry

Isn't 12 weeks the minimum required by FMLA? (ETA: IDK if you're in Canada, though.) I'm sorry this sucks for you, meganew. If you were planning on starting this school year, I'd seriously consider what your mom suggested. Eff them. Tell them you're not coming back at 11 weeks, 4 days. For real.

NEVERMIND, I'm wrong.    

[shopgirl07]

Jul 30, 2014 6:46:48 GMT -5 meganew said:

AND now because of all this shit, I will now be delivering under H's insurance instead of my own. Which means we'll be paying out almost $1,000 for copays for the hospital stay instead of the $0 it would have cost me under my insurance that we assumed I would be using. Great.

My mom was like "Go in and work, deliver, then tell them you can't come back. Fuck them- they're not looking out for you, why should you look out for them!" And I actually considered it for a flamefully long amount of time.

This isn't flameful. This is what you should do. Seriously.

[Mrs. ChanandlerBong]

Jul 30, 2014 7:39:20 GMT -5 meganew said:

Jul 30, 2014 7:32:10 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

Isn't 12 weeks the minimum required by FMLA? (ETA: IDK if you're in Canada, though.) I'm sorry this sucks for you, meganew. If you were planning on starting this school year, I'd seriously consider what your mom suggested. Eff them. Tell them you're not coming back at 11 weeks, 4 days. For real.

Yep. The bare minimum. And I get that it's the standard for other places, but it wasn't the case here. And they let us believe all year long that this was still the policy until "oops, sorry! Nevermind!"

My concern is that I need letters of rec from my principal so I can apply for other jobs next year and I dont want to burn any bridges. Plus, didn't someone on here once say that they can come back at you for the cost of your insurance during your maternity leave if you don't come back?

Some employers do have this policy, and given what a snatch the HR lady was, I would imagine that company that runs your school would pursue this action.

[isabel]

I'm kind of with your mom here. Do you have a good enough relationship with your principal to talk to him/her about this? Fuck. This situation makes me ragey, so I can't even imagine how you feel. I'm sorry.

[jlt19]

I'm really sorry

[meganew]

I'm going in today to talk to my dean and go over the situation with her. I'm going to offer to come back for the beginning of the year to help get the room set up for the new person, if they even hired someone. The school is so disorganized that they seriously may have not even hired my sub yet even though they knew I'd be out the first week the kids come back.

[mmmomof2]

Do not resign now. Wait until you have your baby. You are entitled to your insurance while on maternity leave. It's not flameful to look out for your family.

[meganew]

Jul 30, 2014 7:49:04 GMT -5 isabel said:

I'm kind of with your mom here. Do you have a good enough relationship with your principal to talk to him/her about this? Fuck. This situation makes me ragey, so I can't even imagine how you feel. I'm sorry.

I'm going to bring it up to her today. Let her know that I won't be coming back after delivery, but I'd like to work up until then. We'll see how that goes. LOL.

[cc]

That sucks. They should have grandfathered you in.

Do you get to pick the sub who would take over for you? If so, and you are able to pick someone you are confident will do a great job, I may just consider doing what your mom suggested. (I only say this because my daughter's 5th grade teacher went on unexpected bed rest and the sub they used was basically worthless and most of the school year was pretty much a waste.)

[W.T.Faulkner]

I am so Team Your Mom.

I'm telling you, megachoo, nothing was more satisfying than fucking my terrible administration over in the middle of the year with my leaving. You will not get any flames from me. lol

[verypunny]

I would use their insurance to deliver. Think of it as protecting your family, why resign now? What if during those 12 weeks your husband gets laid off? You still have your job secure. I wiuld hold off for sure.

[Deleted]

I am so sorry! I hope your meeting with the Dean goes well today. I wish the Dean could approve you (and any other currently pregnant employee) to be grandfathered under the previous policy. Let this new policy go into effect for 2016. That's the fair way to do it, seriously.