AIBU pregnant teachers and maternity leave.

[Screamscreamqueen]

I’m a teacher at a secondary school. One of my colleagues is quite heavily pregnant and in 3 weeks time, she’ll be going on maternity leave.
That means that she’s returned to work after the summer to teach classes for only a few weeks before passing them onto other teachers.

Some other members of the department have been gossiping behind this woman’s back saying that she’s selfish and that she should’ve taken her maternity leave earlier to avoid teaching a new school year. They're saying it’s not fair on the kids that they’ve ‘been lumbered with a teacher who won’t even be around’.
They’re also saying that she’s being ‘grabby’ with her maternity leave without thinking of the disruption to her students and other staff members who’ll have to pick up where she’s left off.
Obviously she’s well within her rights to do what she’s doing.
However it’s causing so much tension and I don’t know what to do.
Do I tell the woman in question about what’s been said?

Don’t tell her. How will it help? Except make her anxious going on leave knowing that instead of people being happy for her they have turned into a bunch of bitches. She is well within her right to start her leave when she wants too. It’s management’s position to sort out what happens prior. What a bunch of vipers you work with.

wonderful - we have 2 topics about bitchy workers - on another topic it was about chemo & leave = now this?

Just to be clear, I certainly won’t be telling her what’s been said.

I will try and make the gossiping stop and mention that actually, it’s the fault of poor management.

If she has an internet connection she will probably read this thread.

It is up to each individual woman how they sort out their maternity leave - she isn't teaching primary children so the children will cope. In fact because she is coming back right before the end of term she won't disrupt their education.

@AccioCats for every woman that seems to take the piss there are a lot that don't.

I wouldn't tell her but I'd tell her colleagues stop it. What she's done makes complete financial sense and sounds very sensible. If she'd have gone off in July she'd have lost out on months of full pay or had less time with baby if she couldn't take the same amount of time off, just because her colleagues feel it'd be more convenient for them

ColaFreezePop Agree, I wasn’t suggesting all women do at all. It’s a just a shame when some do because it perpetuates the issue of women being seen as ‘less reliable.’

The 3 x ML woman at my school was the most extreme And I agree that’s very unusual. But it just shows that the system really can be abused - she literally was barely in work for 3 years, just popping back for a matter of weeks between babies, and then handed in her notice after the last baby. The impact on her dept and the pupils was huge because there were a succession of cover teachers that entire time. The school couldn’t afford to take on an extra permanent member of staff, with all the on costs, pension contributions etc it would entail, because the other teacher would still have retained her right to a permanent role

Yep, definitely tell your colleagues that it’s not the fault of the woman who they are expecting to give up extra time with her own baby at the end of her maternity leave in favour of a bunch of other people’s kids at the start of it just because your SLT can’t manage a school properly.

If you actually want to support her then challenge the gossip as and when you hear it.

Acciocats

And those maternity rights have been hard won. Teachers unions have fought tough battles for burgundy book conditions, but need to be on the alert all the time or they will be eroded ( like not automatically transferring salary levels in new jobs) . A lot of teachers working in academies have found their terms of service considerably nibbled away.

Used to be that women were forced to resign their teaching careers on marriage, would hate to see that sort of pressure put on pregnant women teachers. Though actually the current teacher shortage will hold that off I imagine

She’s being very sensible.

Had she given birth in day 1 of the summer holiday, her maternity leave would start that day (ie losing the summer pay). The school wouldn’t care that they’d be paying no one else her pay over the summer (as they would during term time).

She should also come back before the summer to get paid over the summer.

Teachers pay so much out of their own pockets for the classroom. For maternity leave (and for her child), I see no wrong on working the system in her favour.

I know a lot of teachers. Every single one has started maternity leave straight after a holiday so they get paid through it, and or gone back just before a holiday, so they get paid through it. All the teachers I know just see it as a perk of the job. Surely she cant be the only one at that school to have done that?

The school could have got her to do supply teaching or something for the couple of weeks so that it wasnt as disruptive? On the other hand at least there is chance for a handover

Your colleagues are just being bitchy in my opinion. If I knew them well I'd challenge them. They should be putting in a complaint to the head if they really think thetr is an issue rather than bitching about someone behind their back. If it was them / their partners that were pregnant, would they really voluntarily give up 6 weeks pay to sit at home for weeks, and have 6 weeks less at the end of maternity leave actually to spend with their baby (which is kind of the point of maternity leave) just to stop pissing off their colleagues? I very much doubt it!! Maybe suggest next time someone is pregnant that they do a collection to cover their holiday earnings so they can stay off and lessen disruption!? Or they petition the government to look at the law on maternity leave for certain jobs and force people to take leave when it fits in with the job, not the due date?

Viques- tell me about it.

My grandmother was a teacher who was fortunate that she was allowed to carry on for a while after marriage, but then had to resign when she fell pregnant.

And a few decades later I was one of the teachers returning after a 12 week ML and campaigning for better rights, for both mums and dads. My dh was teaching back then too and was in the classroom the day after dd’s birth, because there was no right to paternity leave.

My point is, any system has to be balanced. Much had been done (rightly) to improve maternity leave over the years. However the small minority of women who take the piss, simply because the system enables it, do a great disservice to the majority.

I will try and make the gossiping stop and mention that actually, it’s the fault of poor management.

it is nt the fault of poor mangemtn at all, shes using maternity legislation to her advantage - which the majority of us do.

Wind your neck in and keep your beak out of other peoples business. I used to work for the LA and I never founds any other work place as utterly bitchy, shit-stirry and juvenile as a school staff room. I swear it's because the majority have never functioned in the real world, you've spent your entire life from the age of 4 in an educational establishment with other children and you bicker in a similar vein.

Not the poor woman's fault, but a ridiculous management decision! What if she had (like many people) had either health problems during pregnancy or a premature baby? Would they have had to suddenly rustle up a temp for those first weeks of term?! Obviously they should have just arranged for the cover to start at the beginning of the year and used the time as handover!

I hate it when shitty management practices give maternity leave an bad name unnecessarily!

Just to be clear: I’m not suggesting the woman the OP refers to is taking the piss. It’s a pretty standard thing to do. Very different to the scenario I described.
It might have been better management for the school to put her in a non teaching role and started the cover teacher with an overlap... but in the current climate of squeezed budgets I can see that decisions like that are tricky... eg: overlapping two teachers for several weeks means fewer text books for a class.

Also, all of these posters who seem to think that you can time a pregnancy.... ...

I guarantee you that every single one of those bitchy colleagues would do exactly the same thing if they were in her situation.

Totally normal arrangement IME - saw it loads of times - and colleagues accepted that it was a totally logical move. In the best schools I worked in, managers actually advised pregnant teachers to do this - especially if they were good colleagues who would be a real loss if they didn’t come back. I think you must be in an exceptionally bitchy school.

it’s a shitty thing to do. It’s pretty obvious.

How?

I guarantee you that every single one of those bitchy colleagues would do exactly the same thing if they were in her situation.

Absolutely! They do the exact same thing and get amnesia about their past attitudes - seen it happen many times.

I wouldn't tell her, the other teachers sound like a delight to work with....

Some other members of the department have been gossiping behind this woman’s back saying that she’s selfish and that she should’ve taken her maternity leave earlier to avoid teaching a new school year. They're saying it’s not fair on the kids that they’ve ‘been lumbered with a teacher who won’t even be around’.
They’re also saying that she’s being ‘grabby’ with her maternity leave without thinking of the disruption to her students and other staff members who’ll have to pick up where she’s left off.
Obviously she’s well within her rights to do what she’s doing.

She is also doing what nearly all teachers do. It’s because of the ridiculous way maternity leave for teachers works. Since her colleagues are clearly so incredibly unpleasant, she doesn’t owe them anything in trying to make things easier for them.

However it’s causing so much tension and I don’t know what to do.

Why do you need to do anything at all? What does it have to do with you?

Do I tell the woman in question about what’s been said?

That would just be spiteful and unnecessary.

Every teacher I've ever known has done this. Why would you sacrifice several months of pay for no reason? Do the gossipers have kids? Because I bet they would do this too.

I don’t think I have very met a pregnant teacher/TA who hasn’t done this! In my school people would think it was strange if you didn’t do this! Also people come back to work for a day or two before the summer hols and then have the summer off. Makes sense and everyone else is being ridiculous! Dont tell her but if it was me I would stick up for her. Sounds like a horrible toxic environment to work in

Are you the line manager? If not raise it with the line manager, its malign and innapropriate behaviour if not outright discriminatory.

For the gossips - tell them to STFU and point them at references for the Sex Discrimination act and maternity laws plus the policy for the school. Trying to push back on hard won maternity rights is not the answer. Rights are lost bit by bit, not in one fell swoop.