I joined this company almost a year ago, and I’m currently 5 months pregnant. It has been a horrible pregnancy so far, I’ve had multiple issues over the span of the last 4 months, including multiple visits to emergency, monthly infections, constant nausea, GERD etc. My workplace has been pretty toxic in the past year. It’s a new domain for me, so my ramp up time was about 6 months. I took some challenging work that was new for the organization and was punished in my yearly review cuz that task didn’t align with my teams day-to-day goals (even though I was told it is important to the org). I’ve worked through some pretty ambiguous and difficult debugs through my pregnancy symptoms, and my manager has been extremely unsupportive (not involved with my work load, keeps pushing out 1:1, etc.). He yelled at me today, and basically belittled me for not doing more, even though he knows about my condition, the things I’ve dealt with since getting pregnant and the deliverables I’ve completed. Quitting isn’t an option as no new job will give me any parental benefits if I join right now. I’m on a visa so I can’t technically be unemployed for too long either. I’m not sure complaining to HR will be of any help, since they only care about the company’s interests. I’m pretty sure he’s only communicating with me to document it so he can fire me sometime this year. Do I have any protection as an employee? Or is it better to wait for them to just fire me while I look for an alternative? #workplace #officelife
Sorry to hear! When are you going on maternity leave? Look for another job while you are on leave and quit when you return
I go on leave end of July. I do plan on applying while on leave and quitting, I’m just not sure how much more I can take for the next 3 months.
Do you really need this job? Can you go on unpaid leave citing stress as a cause? If your husband works, then you can go on his insurance. if you need your job because you're the sole breadwinner, I would engage an attorney and start recording the audio of your conversations with your manager. Are you a good performer? And do you have another manager that you trust whom you can share the recording with for help? Most larger companies will have a confidential employee hotline that you can call to file a complaint but if there isn't one then the solution would be to go to to your skip level or further up the food chain to complain. But you've got to have the recordings first as evidence.
you are acting like you are a person. please realize you are a “resource” that needs to perform like an automaton. 100% do not go to HR. you are definitely at high risk of losing your job
Yeah I don’t plan to go to HR.
Can you switch teams?
Not till July. And I’ll almost be up for my disability by then.
Come back and switch? I doubt they will terminate you now. It's pretty much a lawsuit for them. Keep documenting everything. Also see if your physician can put you on disability earlier than 36 weeks.
Document everything. If he slips us, you can use it to buy time. I don't think you can start looking. Stick it out. No one will deport you as millions come every year illegally. Focus on yourself and the baby
Unreal. Unbelievable this is at AMD?? Never worked these so just wondering- isn’t there employee resource groups / peers or managers that u can confide in. Not that they might be able to help - but isn’t that a possibility? GL
I’m still relatively new here, but in my experience, no one likes to be involved in controversial cases. This is the XLNX group so I think it’s a bit different from classic AMD. I’ve never met a more toxic group of people in my career.
Sorry to hear. I’d recommend still connect/find out what other professional women’s group/mentor/support n/w within the larger company outside your group. Hopefully even on blind. Ultimately I think fpga groups including the one I’m at are going through a rough patch with revs down around 50% this past quarter- and these are legacy groups (by no means the toxicity is justified) I do in fact see the same thing here.
CA employment attorney here. I hate to say it, but my firm works with a lot of individuals who have problems as a result of family obligations, and particularly maternity leave. First, understand that life will go on after this job. So try to enjoy your pregnancy as best you can. At the same time, document what you are going through in case you need to speak with someone like me in the future. I would note the time and date of anything that concerns you that might be related to pregnancy discrimination. Also, save any email or slack messages that concern you. At the end of the day, if you lose your job or have any other adverse employment action, you will be able to find an attorney who will have your back.
Thank you, I’ve started documenting and taking screenshots of all my chats to keep in file. My last chat with my manager was quite nerve wrecking, he literally shouted at me like I was a 10 year old.
That's great. Your attorney will thank you for preserving this information.
I’m really sorry that you are going through this. If you need someone to just vent out to, please shoot a DM. Happy to lend an ear! If I may ask, are you an Indian and is your manager an Indian too? Not trying to take this in a racial direction but just curious
Grind more for sometime then go on PTO and immediately maternity leaves and try to switch before coming back
Yes, your best bet is to ignore your manager while continuing to deliver so that he doesn’t have a record to pip you (he sounds like the kind of idiot who would try even though it’s basically a guaranteed lawsuit in the US). Take careful notes of your day to day activities, attempts to meet with him, and send email follow-ups on your plans to deliver after every meeting. You have just a few months to get through. Plan to max out your pregnancy benefits and FMLA and look for a new job towards the end of your leave. It is unlikely to get better with this manager, and you will be better off with a fresh start. You’ll get through it!
I also realized that he is somewhat of a liar. He gave me conflicting information in the past and when I confronted him about it recently, he denied ever having said it. So now it’s his word against mine, and I’m obviously new so that means squat to anyone in the company. Our meetings are always in-person so recording these meetings isn’t an option either.