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It seems like he already knows the answer to his own question.
By Alexandra Blogier — Written on Mar 30, 2023
A boss who manages a team of 6 people that does project-based work wrote into the subreddit r/AmITheA–hole to ask if he was in the wrong for firing a single mom after she came back from her “large amount” of maternity leave.
“I feel like the devil right now, so I’ll accept whatever judgment you all have,” the boss stated.
The boss fired an employee who returned from maternity leave because the cover he hired was ‘far cheaper.’
During the time that his employee, Jess, got pregnant and took her leave, the boss hired a new employee to handle Jess’s workload. The boss explained that the new hire “came at significantly reduced cost, as he was straight out of Uni and we pay him a fraction of what Jess costs currently.”
The boss stated that the team adapted and developed new skills to manage the workload Jess left behind while on her company-given leave. Jess returned to work after 10 months of staying home with her baby, but the firm announced that there is no longer a big enough budget for a 7-person team, and someone had to get let go.
Any guesses on who the boss fired?
Unsurprisingly, he fired the new mom and justified his choice by saying the replacement hire was 'far cheaper, freeing up a lot more money' than if he’d kept the mom on the team.
He listed off other reasons he kept the replacement hire over Jess, including the fact the replacement was up-to-date with their current project, “whereas with Jess we would have to take time catching her up to speed on half the project.” He went on to say that “the clients already knew and liked working with [the replacement hire] whereas they didn’t know Jess at all. He performed his work better than she did hers and interacted better with the team.”
Furthermore, the boss claimed that because “she has been out of the field for a prolonged period, whilst he has been here for the past 9 months… she may, or may not, find it hard to adapt back to work life, whilst with him, it isn’t a question.”
After firing her and putting “a new single mother with no other job lined up out in the cold,” the boss told himself, “I had to do right by the team and firm.” He told Jess he’d write her “a brilliant Letter of Recommendation and that in a few months, she could try and apply for a job at [the] firm. According to the boss, Jess “snapped” at him in response, cursed him out, and told him not to bother.
He posed the following question to Reddit—“I know I sound cold and heartless but I had to be fair to both employees, not just Jess, right?”
Unsurprisingly, everyone on Reddit thought he was wrong. He was unanimously voted the a–hole, and told it’s likely he got his company into legal trouble for firing someone because she went on maternity leave.
“Every single reason you mentioned was only true because she had been gone on maternity leave which legally cannot be a reason to terminate someone. Yet it is the cause behind every reason you gave,” said one person.
“We all know it's because she cost more than the new guy and they want to exploit the new guy who is doing the exact same job as Jess,” stated someone else.
For as much money as this boss thought he was saving his company, another commenter noted that “you're not going to save money after she takes legal action for being fired because she's a mother.”
While it seems like this boss resides outside of the United States, in this country, there are some marginal protections for pregnant people so they can avoid being put in Jess’s situation.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed in 1978 as an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It states that discrimination surrounding pregnancy, birth, or pregnancy and birth-related conditions is unlawful and that pregnant people must be treated the same as other employees in their "ability or inability to do work."
In addition, the Family Medical Leave Act is designed to protect workers’ rights, if they need to take medical leave.
The FMLA mandates an employer to allow an employee to return to work after a leave of absence. While the employee isn’t guaranteed their exact position when they return, they have to be offered an "equivalent” position, which would have to be identical to the original position in terms of pay and benefits.
While there’s no telling exactly where in the world this boss is, he can surely expect a wrongful termination lawsuit to be coming his way soon.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.