I am an IT director and can do most of my job from home. My wife has suffered several miscarriages, but this baby is a fighter and has made it to the middle of month 7. We want this child more than anything. The pregnancy is high risk and we are under constant monitoring and testing. I frequently have to take time off work with little to no notice. I took the job 6 month ago and told them about the high risk pregnancy prior to being hired and said flexibility during the pregnancy would be a precondition to my acceptance of the job.
Today I had to leave in the middle of a project kickoff meeting after missing a call from the doctor and getting several frantic texts from my wife. The latest report from the doctor was presented new risks to our child. I followed up with doctor over the phone, and then told my boss I was leaving for the day to comfort my wife.
After I arrived home and had few more frantic phonecalls with doctors, I wrote an email to my boss requesting to work from home for two days. Here is that exchange
Me:
Hey [redacted],
The doctor is optimistic, but we’re still in a touch and go situation where an emergency can happen at any moment. We are not out of the woods until baby is born in June. Until then we are under a strict regime of at home monitoring which may, depending on how things go Tuesday, also include in-hospital monitoring. I’d like to work from home until my next appointment on Tuesday, when, hopefully, all of this will be sorted out.
Thanks,
[redacted]
Boss:
Currently, I am not going to be able to grant your request to work from home. We have a lot of items that need to be accomplished that need your direct attention. Today, we could not complete all the items on the [redacted] migration call that should have been accomplished. There have been other work-related items that alternative plans were not in place to cover your unexpected and expected absences. You are asking to work from home without any plan give to cover your scheduled new employee orientation. [redacted] is not the alternative plan as he will be out at a facility.
Hope to see you tomorrow.
He is expecting to gamble with my child's life over some non essential projects.
I'm done.