I've been working as a contractor for a large US-based financial services company for the past year and a half. During that time I've consistently received positive, even glowing, feedback about my performance. I've regularly done work outside my responsibilities' scope and bent over backward to be an excellent employee. Despite being a contractor I was told that there would be funding available for me until 2025 and even encouraged not to take or pursue other positions because “I was valued like an employee” here.
I was so excited to announce my pregnancy. I'd already suffered one miscarriage working there (and only took 2 hours off to deal with it) and was excited to share with my work family. Ever since I announced I had this feeling (that I thought was irrational) that I was going to be let go because I'm pregnant.
Welp yesterday it happened. They said that they weren't renewing me due to funding. When asked why I was chosen over people with similar titles, but poorer performance, one of the other leaders slipped that the other individuals could provide stability over the next few months that I couldn't.
In other words… They chose to end my contract because I'm pregnant. And because I'm a contractor there isn't really anything I can do about it. Oh and my severance? Less than two weeks. If I gave less than two weeks' notice I'd be torn apart, but it's totally fine for companies to do it.
I guess I learned my lesson. This company has a reputation for caring about its employees, but I've learned behind the scenes that this isn't the case and it definitely isn't the case for contractors.