Employers fire mothers-to-be

I was reading The Toronto Star this morning while having coffee, and I came across this article, I thought i'd share it with you

Recession used as excuse for surge in pink slips

Human rights advocates are seeing an alarming surge in cases of pregnant women being fired by "Neanderthal" employers across Ontario, who claim hard times are the cause.

What's especially stunning, they say, is how brazen some bosses are, almost 50 years after Ontario enacted the Human Rights Code to prevent such discrimination.

"We actually have an email from one employer saying, `Sorry, but with your little bundle, I don't think we'll be able to (re)hire you. We want a permanent solution,'" says Consuelo Rubio, manager of client services for Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre, an independent agency funded by the province to provide free legal services to people experiencing discrimination.

The firings are in all sectors: "It's happening to women in senior positions and women in minimum-wage jobs," says Katherine Laird, executive director of the centre, who says she hasn't seen this level of discrimination through two previous recessions and 30 years in the human rights field.

"It's outrageous and illegal," Laird says.

The spike in calls from pregnant women who are frightened for their jobs, can't nail down return-to-work dates or have been told there will be no job waiting for them at the end of their maternity leave, started last fall. But they hit "nightmare" levels in January, says Rubio, and are now averaging 10 to 15 calls a week – accounting for about 10 per cent of all calls from workers inquiring about their rights.

"I thought I was the only person this was happening to," says Brandi Mather, 21, a housekeeper at an Orillia hotel who was laid off Jan. 19, ostensibly because of a lack of work. She later learned her boss had overhead co-workers talking about her pregnancy. Mather had hoped to return to work this month, but found out a replacement worker had been hired in the meantime.

Her boss was quite upfront, saying it was because of the pregnancy. But the boss backtracked when she realized Mather had checked out her legal rights and then said it was because her work was shoddy.

Most firings seem to occur soon after women announce they are pregnant, says Rubio. That puts women's maternity leave benefits at risk, since to qualify for full benefits they must work 600 hours within the 52 weeks before filing.

"I need 435 more hours," says Mather, who also has a 2-year-old daughter and had been working part-time while studying to be a pharmacy assistant. Her pregnancy is starting to show, which has made it impossible to get another job.

"I don't want to go on welfare, but if that's what I have to do, that's what I have to do. I've tried really hard not to do that because I know there are other people who need it."

Until Dec. 4, dental assistant Ann Dunn split her work week between two dentists, one in Courtice and one in Bowmanville. At 10 a.m. she told the Bowmanville dentist she was pregnant. A few hours later she was given a $300 gift certificate to The Bay and told her one-day-a-week job was over.

To her gratitude, the other dentist was so shocked by the move he took her on staff early enough before her son, Michael, was born April 1 to allow her to qualify for maternity benefits. She's filed a claim with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and is seeking $10,000 in damages.

"If he had said to me, `Things are getting slow in the office and we don't have a lot of hours. Just finish off your three months,' I would have said, `That's fine.' But I didn't have that option. The only option I had was the gift card."

The dentist hired a replacement.

The centre is also hearing from pregnant women who work on commission but simply aren't being given any work or sales calls to make.

"Employers are crying about the recession and saying, `This is so terrible for us,'" says Rubio. "Well, what about all these workers who are going through the financial crisis too? The recession is not only affecting employers, it's affecting mothers with children, it's affecting disabled people – even more so because a lot of these people can be even more vulnerable financially."

The centre is also fielding more calls from injured workers and disabled people – who have always accounted for the vast majority of inquiries – and are seeing troubling signs on that front as well, especially among people who work for hard-hit auto-parts manufacturers, some of them unionized shops.

Human-rights advocates are investigating a Peterborough firm that produces car bumpers and other plastic parts. It laid off 18 workers back in January – every one of whom had at some point claimed disability benefits or were on modified work assignments to allow them to do less strenuous work to cope with their injury.

Meanwhile, 18 "healthy" workers were called back from layoffs.

"The Human Rights Code is supposed to be about recognizing the worth and dignity of every person – and sometimes the real test of an employer's commitment comes when economic times are tough," says Kate Sellar, a lawyer with the centre.

"Bad economic times aren't a licence for employers to discriminate against pregnant women and workers with disabilities."

So what's your excuse?

Twelve amusing excuses for being late to work

There is no worse feeling than waking up in the morning, rested from good night's sleep, and glancing at the clock, only to do a double-take: You're late!

For most people, knowing they're running late for work strikes the fear of God within them and as a result, they move like there's a fire under their feet to get ready. They hustle, scramble, frantically throw things into a bag and are out the door to ensure a timely -- though unkempt and graceless -- arrival at the office.

But for a smaller group people, knowing they are running late for work does absolutely nothing except stimulate their creative juices in order to make up the latest excuse as to why they are late for work -- again.

Twenty percent of workers said they arrive late to work at least once a week, This according to a February 2009 CareerBuilder.com survey of more than 8,000 workers. Twelve percent said they are late at least twice a week.

One-third (33 percent) of workers blamed traffic for their tardiness, while 24 percent said lack of sleep was the culprit. Ten percent of workers said getting their kids ready for school or day care was the main reason they ran late in the morning. Other common reasons included public transportation, wardrobe issues or dealing with pets.

"While some employers tend to be more lenient with worker punctuality, 30 percent say they have terminated an employee for being late," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.com.

"Workers need to understand their company's policies on tardiness and if they are late, make sure they openly communicate with their managers. Employers have heard every excuse in the book, so honesty is the best policy."

Use your imagination

If you've decided honesty is not the best policy for you, don't try using any of the following excuses as the reason why you're late -- they've been heard before.

Here are 12 of the most outrageous excuses employees have heard for being late to work:

1. My heat was shut off so I had to stay home to keep my snake warm.

2. My husband thinks it's funny to hide my car keys before he goes to work.

3. I walked into a spider web on the way out the door and couldn't find the spider, so I had to go inside and shower again.

4. I got locked in my trunk by my son.

5. My left turn signal was out so I had to make all right turns to get to work.

6. A gurney fell out of an ambulance and delayed traffic.

7. I was attacked by a raccoon and had to stop by the hospital to make sure it wasn't rabid.

8. I feel like I'm in everyone's way if I show up on time.

9. My father didn't wake me up.

10. A groundhog bit my bike tire and made it flat.

11. My driveway washed away in the rain last night.

12. I had to go to bingo.

Follow the culture

The general rule is that you should be in your desk, working by your designated starting time. Technically, even if you're at your desk "on time" but you're still booting up your computer, saying your hellos and making a cup of coffee -- you're late.

Though you should always try your best to be punctual every morning, sometimes it's safe to observe the company culture. If you arrive to work every morning to find all of your colleagues diligently working while you shuffle in on your own accord, your tardiness will probably stand out. On the other hand, if most people filter in at their own paces -- within reason -- an occasional late arrival will probably go unnoticed.

To be on the safe side, try your best to be on time for work every day. Your boss, co-workers and reputation will thank you for it.

Should you and your boss be (Facebook) friends?

The social networking phenom known as Facebook's been around for almost five years -- a lifetime in the Internet world -- and by now it has become a mainstay of workers who want to kill a little (or a lot) of time updating their statuses and playing Scrabble.

Hidden deep beneath the site's fun, technological distractions, some people are actually using the site for its intended purpose: networking (social and professional).

You know, touching base and building relationships with people -- all things that used to be done in person with awkward phone calls and cocktail-party pleasantries.

At workplaces, online networking has become an effective way for co-workers within the same building or on different continents to connect. Bosses and employees are also befriending each other, which can make balancing personality and professionalism difficult.

There are obvious drawbacks to letting the boss see too much of your non-work self, but do the positives compensate?

Friend request accepted

Before you decide if you should be your superior's Facebook friend, you have to ask yourself why you would want to be online buddies. Is everyone else in your department connected online or are you going to be the only employee "SuperPoking" the boss? (that really does give a whole new meaning to the term "poking the boss")

"If you work for a forward-thinking company whose entire staff is on Facebook, then your participation is the online equivalent of lunching with co-workers or a water cooler chat," says Patrice-Anne Rutledge, a social networking expert and author of "The Truth About Profiting from Social Networking."

"The advantage to connecting with a current or former boss on Facebook is the opportunity for more personalized networking. When you connect online, you get to know someone better," Rutledge says.

"You could discover a common interest in marathon running, foreign films or yoga, for example, that could help your boss get to know you better as a person. These personal connections can become a major asset when you're looking to move forward in your career or find a new job."

Of course, networking with colleagues is different than befriending the boss.

Do you or don't you?

Naturally, you don't necessarily want to be your boss's virtual pal if you have something to hide. The obvious drawback to online friendship is that your profile is open to your list of friends, and that means the good and the bad of your online persona is fair game.

"If you use Facebook to air political rants, document your wild weekend escapades, post wacky photos or vent about your job, you should obviously have some concerns about letting your boss view this aspect of your life," Rutledge cautions. "But what's important to remember is that no online content is truly private, even if your intention is to share this information only with your Facebook friends. Facebook makes your profile viewable to anyone in the networks you belong to, even if you're not directly connected with or even know all the network members," Rutledge says.

You should be monitoring your online content as though your current and future boss can see it, even if they aren't on your buddy list.

"Unprofessional online content, or 'digital dirt' as it's often called, is a problem that goes beyond Facebook. Anything you post online is essentially public and can affect your career and job prospects, both positively and negatively."

The rules of engagement

Like the beginning of any relationship, online networking requires that someone make the first move. As you might expect, you need to be the judge based on your experience at the company.

"In some cutting-edge companies, entire work groups -- from VPs to interns -- are on Facebook and interact regularly. In other circumstances, the proper etiquette would be to wait for an invitation or bring up the subject during a private discussion to see if your boss is open to the idea," Rutledge says. You don't want to put your boss in an awkward position or come across as presumptuous.

"In other companies, younger workers may be hard-pressed to find any members of senior management on Facebook," she explains. "The bottom line is that you really need to understand the 'unwritten rules' in your corporate culture to determine the appropriate way to initiate a Facebook connection."

But if you have some unsavory online content attached to your profile, what do you do if your boss made the first move?

"Declining this invitation obviously isn't a very smart idea, but you can remove your digital dirt before accepting the connection." Rutledge suggests that, if your profile is viewable to the entire company or city network, the boss may have already seen it, so a speedy clean-up is in your best interest.

For the sake of your professionalism, here are some important factors to keep in mind when logging into Facebook or similar sites:

- Networks. The default setting on many sites allows a profile to be viewable to people in your networks, which can be defined by broad categories like your city or alma mater. You have to actively restrict who can see your information. In your settings options, you can opt to be someone's friend but not let them see your pictures or what comments people leave on your Wall. This way you can still be yourself and maintain a good professional relationship with your boss.

- Audience. If your profile can be seen by people who aren't friends, keep in mind that your views aren't necessarily shared by everyone. So your current boss might agree with your diatribe against a Supreme Court ruling, but a future employer might not.

- The Wall. The Wall, which is the place where friends can post comments or videos to your profile, is viewable to all of your friends and networks (unless you restrict access to it). Even if you're on your best behavior, you should make sure your friends are, too. Otherwise, hilarious but inappropriate accounts of your wilder days can creep into your profile.