Woman Asks If She Is In The Wrong For Not Taking Over For Her Pregnant Co-Worker

By Malaika
May 4, 2021
4 minutes read

Nobody is owed anything.

Just because you are pregnant does not mean you are owed something from people. While this is different when the work environment comes into play since it is a given for an employer to give people days off when their due date is close or some concessions if their health is deteriorating. And usually, it is the HR’s job to fill in the holes a person will leave when it comes to working. That is why I am so baffled as to why and how these people thought it was appropriate to put the blame on another employee.

When you are taking a leave for whatever reason and the HR is fine with it, it does not fall upon the employee to find their replacement. However, that is exactly what happened in this particular situation. And rather than asking her ‘friend’ beforehand, she immediately volunteered OP for the job even though the poster of this story would not get any compensation for taking over the extra work.

I don’t know about you but most people are not okay with doing someone’s job for free.

Source: Reddit

This is not how this sort of thing works, HR needs to be the one looking for a replacement.

Why don’t those team players step up for the job themselves? If they are so butthurt about it.

The people around her are clearly making her feel guilty.

People in the comment unanimously agreed that it was HR’s job.

And that it was the company’s fault, not the OP’s.

Rather than taking it out on the HR, this woman is fighting her co-worker.

It is clear that the company is pitting these two women against each other.

Usually, it is the assistant’s job to take over any extra workload after all.

Nobody thought of it this way I suppose.

If they had thought of this for even one moment, they might have realized it.

Why would they do that? Because that would actually be sensible.

I agree and it seems mad to me. In the UK pregnancy is protected so a worker who is sick due to pregnancy gets paid sick leave. The company would either need to reassign their work or take on a temporary worker to cover it. In my experience, people are happy to help out for a bit but not to double their workload for an extended period without additional pay. Neither OP nor the pregnant woman is the AH but HR/the company definitely is. –Chalgrove

The pregnant woman and the company aren’t doing any favors for themselves.

Both of them are clearly in the wrong.

She could have at least spoken to you first beforehand.

And it wasn’t even for a few days.

They should do it themselves if they think this is teamwork.

OP wasn’t even going to get additional compensation.

Most if not all agreed that OP wasn’t in the wrong whatsoever.

And that HR should have done a better job.

If this goes, it is only going to get more hostile at work.

Even then she should be able to choose.

It is pretty clear that OP was going to get the short end of the stick.

Exactly, Why should she do this?

Would you ever take on extra work without any compensation just because your co-worker asked you to do so? If so let us know your opinion in the comments below.