New company tried to force my wife to work full-time to cover maternity leave. She's handing in her notice tomorrow morning.
My wife started a new job about 4 months ago. The industry she was in before was a bit shaky and the hours were being reduced, so she started looking for something more stable.
She did a few interviews for an admin role. When they sent her the offer, she discovered that things like pension contributions and health insurance were included in the advertised salary, so the net pay she ultimately received was a surprise, and not a pleasant one at all.
The agreement was for a part-time position, 4 days a week, on the understanding that she could work extra hours here and there to help with holidays or during busy periods.
Honestly, she has hated this job from day one. We kept saying it was just new-job anxiety, but it's clear now that the place is just not a good fit for her. The good thing is that we're fortunate that she doesn't have to work if she doesn't want to, which is a huge relief.
The culture there is terrible. They have zero tolerance for mistakes, even if someone is new. About a month into her job, they gave her a formal warning for using the wrong internal form for a specific request, even though it didn't cause any problems. On top of that, the phones don't stop ringing from 10 AM to 3 PM, and it's nearly impossible to get a proper lunch break.
Her manager took her aside and told her, not asked her, that she would be working full-time to cover the upcoming maternity leave. He then reminded her that she was still on probation - which was a clear threat - and said that she had agreed to work extra hours 'when needed.' Covering a year-long leave is definitely not what 'when needed' means. On top of all that, the manager claimed he couldn't get budget approval to hire a temp, and tried to make her feel like it was her problem to solve.
Anyway, a short while ago, her colleague at work told her she was pregnant and would be starting her maternity leave in November. Here in Ireland, most people take at least 8 months of leave, and many go beyond a year.
So yeah, she's handing in her notice tomorrow morning. They treated her like crap, the place is disorganized, chaotic, and understaffed, and she was completely miserable.
Honestly, I think her manager had no idea that my wife doesn't need this job. He just assumed she'd be afraid of getting fired and would rearrange our entire family life to suit their needs. His calculations were completely wrong.