Hi All - my question is just the above really.
I'm currently 21 weeks pregnant. I let my boss know over 7 weeks ago and also mentioned that I wanted to go on maternity leave from July.
Basically I have a v stressful job - tbh I burnt out around 9 months ago and would have quit to find something else if I hadn't got pregnant so quickly as the pressure here is unsustainable. I also have a long commute, my husband & I run a business at evenings/weekends, we recently moved house & still haven't unpacked due to renovating (ourselves), and I had a fairly traumatic miscarriage in October which left me tired & anaemic.
Because of this I want to finish up work ASAP & have time to destress/relax/get my strength back before baby arrives. The problem is my boss is saying that he doesn't think he can start recruiting until I hand in my matb1 form and has been asking for this for a few weeks. I explained I can't get it until my first midwife app after 20 weeks, which is next week at 22 weeks.
I work through the public sector and recruitment takes ages, so I'm concerned he's not going to have a replacement organised before the date I want to leave. I'm the only person managing/working on my project (crazy set up), which is worth a few million pounds with a number of buildings due to go on site by July ... I'm afraid I'm going to feel too guilty to leave when I want to and/or get the blame for my role not being filled before I leave because I 'didn't hand my form in' early enough & the repurcussions that will have for everyone with money tied up in this project. Although I want to leave this job anyway I'm afraid of the reputational damage of being seen to 'abandon' my project with nobody to take it on as I work in a small sector. Plus I guess I just feel really guilty/selfish for wanting to leave at 32 weeks if it causes people problems rather than hanging on a bit longer ...
Is my boss right in saying he can't start recruiting yet? I can't imagine why the matb1 form makes a difference to this ...