Getting really really pissed off with my employer now. They have been nothing short of incompetent and stressful since I told them I was pregnant.
I had hyperemesis gravidarum throughout my pregnancy so I was signed off sick pretty much the entire time from about 10 weeks. I managed to go back for about a month when I was about 20 weeks as it eased off but by 25 weeks it was back again until the end. The pregnancy was brutal, I lost 3 stone and my mental health was pretty poor due to being so sick and spending the majority of my time alone and in & out of hospital.
I should point out I’m part time and my shifts were covered due to extra staff being in from other stores being renovated during that time so at no point were they ever short staffed. Not the point anyway as I was really ill so don’t need to justify being off sick so much but just trying to explain incase anyone was feeling sympathetic for them having me off sick all the time. I had sick lines the whole time and gave them as much notice as possible.
My company’s sick pay policy states no sick pay, however in exceptional cases, such as with HG, managers can pay it at their discretion. Mine didn’t. It was the difference of £20 a week between company sick pay and statutory sick pay so wouldn’t have exactly broke the bank for a multi million point company. However not paying this amount meant I fell below the weekly earning threshold for maternity pay so had to claim maternity allowance. I realise technically they did nothing wrong here but just found it a bit stingy of them and it added to the stress of everything after thinking that working somewhere for 2 years I would at least have my mat pay covered and then having to claim for mat allowance instead which took ages.
Towards the end of the pregnancy the new holiday year started and instead of being signed off sick I wanted to use my holiday allowance up and then start maternity. I had to literally screenshot the maternity policy and send it to them because they were arguing I hadn’t accrued enough holidays to use them. Despite it being in black and white that you don’t have to accrue it when you’re off on maternity as you’re treated like any other employee who wants to use holidays as soon as the allowance renews.
My maternity leave then wasn’t put through. It was meant to start at the beginning of July and wasn’t put through until the end. This meant I was nearly a month late getting the standard 2 weeks pay everyone gets when they start Mat leave with the company. Again more stress we didn’t need with a newborn.
Now I’ve just been contacted by the manager saying I’m down as my maternity leave ending at the start of April and will I come in to discuss what I want to do. I was pretty clear I intended to take the year, which would be July, so where they’re pulling April from I’ve no idea.
My baby is only 6 months old. Surely it’s a bit early to be asking me what my plans are? We aren’t sure yet what we want to do. We’ve no help childcare wise. We don’t know if it’s worth me going back yet. We want to see if my husband gets any sort of pay rise next month and so on before we make any decisions.
AIBU to be really pissed off here? We may end up needing me to go back financially so I don’t want to burn bridges more than they are already but honestly it’s one thing after the next. Sorry for the long post but just trying not to drip feed.