I started a new job back in February that came with great benefits and decent pay. I thought I found a unicorn. This company has local roots and started as a very small business before expanding to how large they are now and prides themselves in being caring and offering so much for employees and the community”.
I found out I was pregnant two months after starting. It’s been a good fit and I’ve even been bumped in pay and responsibilities so my pregnancy didn’t affect my treatment here at all. All was fine and dandy until I had to submit my official request for maternity leave now that I’m getting closer to my due date in December. All benefits go through the corporate that owns the company I work for. Their response was to tell me due to federal and state laws requiring an employment length of 12 months to be eligible for FMLA, that my leave is unapproved. No exceptions even though they could easily approve it without needing the law to force them to. Due to the Pregnancy Fairness Act they have to keep my job for the same amount of time they would for any other disability leave but they do not have to honor anything else including benefits. They will be terminating my insurance and all other company sponsored benefits. My main concern of course is insurance. I offered to pay them the full premium amount and was still rejected. I was given some generic verbiage about a new program they’re implementing that helps employees find out if they qualify for government sponsored assistance. Why should I have to even consider that!? It’s just asinine. After asking for any possible other options they finally said I could take Cobra to keep my coverage but when I return I’ll have to start over as if I’m a brand new employee. Then I’ll be waiting for Cobra to kick in and backdate claims. I guess it’s better than nothing though.
This really makes me realize they don’t care about employees and makes me not want to come back after my leave now. This really bums me out because my manager is awesome and I like the people I work with but their hands are tied because we are owned by a larger and less caring company. What a crock. I’m torn. I don’t want to have to start over again.