Wednesday, February 13, 2013

I Hate You, and Your Baby Too!

Yesterday a good friend of mine lost her job. Okay people lose their jobs all the time, right?  Or was it the continuation of a disturbing trend taking place at Game corp? I have noticed that being pregnant is a liability at Game corp. Sounds crazy? Not really.

Firing someone because they are pregnant is a big accusation but I was looking at the facts. Just six months ago three pregnant women were fired from the same department my friend "Carrie" was.  When they put in for their maternity leave it simply wasn't approved. They didn't accumulate enough hours. It's not as if they could just not have their babies. Funny other people in that same department went on leave for less urgent reasons. Like the girl who had to take three months off because of a bad break up. No I'm not kidding.

One of my other co-workers who had a baby and did not lose her job was telling me once how much harder management seemed to make things for her while she was pregnant. Like carrying a heavy ceramic tub filled with supplies to do in room services. I remember her saying " I almost thought they wanted me to have a miscarriage". In another department I knew a woman who was a waitress.. The waitresses at Game corp have a strict dress code. She became pregnant unexpectedly and she was in college at the time. She confided in me that her direct manager told her that it would be best if she terminated her pregnancy. He told her that when most girls have babies they cannot properly fit the uniforms anymore. Again very hard to prove.

 There is also the case of the morbidly obese maternity uniform. The director of one of the department's instead of letting the technicians wear their own clothes for 6 or 7 months ordered uniforms for them. The uniforms came in sized 4xl. Because even with a college degree it's not possible to differentiate between a woman who is morbidly obese and one who is expecting a child.

But all of this could just be a coincidence. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the salon owner has never been married and has no children. Or the fact that all of the high level positions are held either by men or women who are either single or way past child bearing age. I am sure that the company loves small children, and their mothers too.