My boss, (who is very staunchly conservative, pro-life, and active in politics) led me to believe I would be allowed the full amount of unpaid leave covered by FMLA back in February. I was preparing to deliver an unplanned birth control baby and thought he would be nothing but supportive. On my way out the door the day before my leave was supposed to start, he pulled me into his office and wanted me to sign a document saying I was willingly terminating my employment with the company, and explained they didn’t have to abide by FMLA requirements because their employee count was kept in the mid 40s, just under the minimum employee count of 50 that would require them to offer FMLA. This also meant I would be risking forfeiting my insurance just days before a huge medical cost, (my baby could easily have arrived at the start of the next calendar month, his due date was two days before the end of the month.)
Long story short, I refused to sign the document, continued working a bit longer until I no longer had the energy to, then paid the huge cost for COBRA for myself and my baby. To say I felt betrayed is an understatement, I still have nightmares about that day all these months later.
Now, I’m followed by the mom curse anytime I try to find a new position. Childcare is beyond expensive, and any job that would pay me enough to cover that cost views me as a risk because I just had my first baby. Not that I plan on having more, I’m a one and done mom. But employers don’t know that. I have a college degree and even a fast food restaurant refused to hire me. I’m drowning in expenses and ready to give up and resign myself to a life of debt. Thankfully I’m not completely helpless, my husband makes a good salary and covers the basics. But we really need additional income to pay off the cost of having a baby. It feels like the combination of low wages and high cost of childcare is a grand scheme to push women back out of the work place. I’m honestly crushed to watch my career implode right when it was beginning.
EDIT: this happened in Orem UT. I made the rookie mistake at a couple of interviews of being honest when asked my reason for leaving my previous position, I told them they didn’t offer me the FMLA I needed. I know, it was dumb, I am not doing the same thing in current interviews.