I'm so sorry for grammar and spelling. I am still coming down off an anxiety attack and just really need advice here for myself and other women in our group.
I recently became pregnant after suffering a miscarriage of two twins less than 2 months ago. Upon hiring to this company I was told my appointments would be respected and whatever accomodations I need would be protected.
However, we just spent an hour today being literally berated by two female managers saying otherwise and much more.
We were told within 90 days absolutely NO time off would be approved. They would “work” with the pregnante women on scheduling their doctors appointments closer to their in time and out time. However any requests would be denied and more than 2 missed days was automatic firing. They stated this was policy and we could not fight it as it's what's expected and we must choose to be “committed” to our jobs. That we needed to make a choice to move our needs to their needs or they will sack us. This included going into labor or having issues like I did over two months ago. I was told my emergency D&C would not have been approved and marked as an occurrence even with ample notice. We only get 2.
This is the weirder part. They also stated that we must have full chest and face in picture (name cannot cover our faces) the full 8 hour shift, no leaning into the keyboard or moving around, speaking to anyone on the room if they walk by for a second. “No excuses”. Because through our cameras in Teams they are “monitoring our training to ensure engagement” full faces or no credit for the day. We cannot use the bathroom/get water ect more than 2 times and hour and if we needed to stretch or puke to make sure we were on camera to “ensure our learning engagement”. They claim they “will work with us” clearly just to protect them against laws stating they say they do work with us. However behavior states otherwise. I spent 3 minutes halfway off camera dry heaving into my trash can (maxed out my bathroom breaks) and recieved an immediate message about needing to be in full view as per the manager request. I asked about needing to stand and stretch and sadly puke and was told to just readjust my camera wherever I am. So that they can see I'm engaged and in clear view…. Kinda grossed out.
After this we were then told that we needed to conduct ourselves as we would in the office and that includes NO crying babies. We would need to find child care as it was inappropriate to be even speaking to another person in the room while on shift. We aren't to breastfeed, or hold our children while at work except on breaks as this was inappropriate. Mind you this is a call center off camera style work.
I haven't been able to even focus on learning the content for the rest of the shift as I'm paranoid I may get yelled at if my name tag on teams is covering my face too much or I'm out of view. I'm constantly staring at my photo in teams worried about the next PING. Let alone if I need to use the bathroom one too many times. I have never in my 20 years of working in call centers, as a manager and have worked for utter assholes in kitchens felt this absolutely horrified and terrified for my job and health. Yet we haven't even gotten to the work yet…
Is this even legal?
I feel berated, lied to about the accomodations, harassed and personally attacked.
This was our 1st day of class and probably my last. I left with so much anxiety and heart palpitations that I don't even think going back and giving them anything to power trip and play controlling sadist over.
Mind you I have a part time gig as a manager at another job (it's seasonal work), however it is very physical and taking time to ensure the safety of my pregnancy was key. I spoke to my bosses at that job about it and they were applaud at our treatment and upset that their policies were even legal?
They state there is no way around these policies and we can either “commit” or leave. There is no PTO, no sick time and no Holiday pay. They will not even accept Jury Duty and that is all simply because “our training schedule is tight and cannot be made up for”. Mind you this was not kind language they used. It was very aggressive, demeaning, berating and it felt like we were in jail being punished for crimes, lol. It was INSANE. I have never seen this in my life regardless of how I was personally affected even as a very hardened person.
But for the many of you, is this normal? What can we do?? There are 4 pregnant women in the class and this is only day 1..any suggestions?