Work, or the lack thereof.
Written by The Lassie
Confined to the bed with something apparently close to pneumonia and the mother of all inner ear infections, it would seem that there is ample time for me to post. Unfortunately, a long period of hesitation has proven yet again ill-advised for me, as the only result is a tangled, messy heap of confused thoughts, completely impossible to be formed into coherent sentences. Upon inquiry, my random topic generator has produced ‘employment ramble’ as choice of the day, so here goes. Please forgive my febrile musings.
The Lad is still looking for a new job. So far, so anxiety-inducing. I suppose we were hoping things would just somehow fall into place and we would be spared the whole unemployment benefit (please fill in eleventy million forms and tell us where you hide your money) experience. No such luck – the next job center appointment will take place this week.
While we are on this particularly joy-filled topic, I feel compelled to add that my bosses are still trying to dispose of me. My ‘Elternzeit’, as the maternity leave is referred to in Germany, will end in May this year.
At my office, I’ve been considered an inconvenience and therefore strategically bullied ever since I announced my pregnancy. Now that the end of my Elternzeit is nigh and I have refused to just ‘go and look for a different job’, as I was asked to do during the last meeting, my lovely bosses are pulling out all their stops to keep me from coming back to the office. The latest news here is that I was asked to accept a severance package of some kind. My lawyer – a friend of the family – whom I consult with frequently at this point, advised me to request said offer in writing. Just yesterday, I received an email from one of my bosses who proceeded to inform me that she is not willing to put anything into writing and instead wants to call me this week to talk about things further. I am unsure how to respond to that – for now I have sent a reply saying that I won’t be talking to anyone over the phone in the next few days, as my sense of hearing is almost non-existent what with the infection and all that.
In any case, it’s a real shocker that my German employers wish to unburden themselves of me, a young mother of one. Knowing my boss’ sentiments, I did of course see this coming. It’s not that statements like ‘I will only employ women outside their fertile years from now on’ tipped me off or anything.
What really depresses me in all this, though, is that noone even pretends to be surprised. This is just how it is. Oh well. What a shame. Women, or more specifically mothers, continue to be the weakest link in very many ways and it’s just a universally accepted fact. And, even more infuriatingly, I couldn’t even really do anything about it, should I feel so inclined, because the Lad and I would be unable to pay the legal expenses.
Right now I am basically just sitting around, waiting for things to happen to me. Good times. Lovely feeling, that. No pressure or strain involved at all. Is it wrong that I wanted to kick my boss in the teeth when she closed an email with ‘greetings in a very difficult time for us all’? A very difficult time, indeed. Especially for someone who has no children and lives off a manager’s salary. The poor, poor thing.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Just happened to come across your blog and am appalled at what’s happened to you.
Were you in an ongoing position before you went into Elternzeit? Then yes, they would legally have been required to offer you a comparable job when you return to work post-Elternzeit and you should have won such a legal fight if it did come to the crunch. Not sure if it’s too late for this now…?
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Oh hi there, Karin! I wrote about that again a little later on. Here’s the link for you:
http://nomagicpill.org/2010/01/sleep-is-outrageously-overrated/
I initially thought there would or should be more I could do, too, but in the end found out from various sources that in reality, if your employer does want to get rid of you, they will most likely find a way to twist things in their favor. A circumstance which makes me simultaneously sad and angry.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Oh, sorry, I could just have read on myself through the ensuing posts…just didn’t have enough time. Really, if you were with them for so long I think that you could’ve gotten more out of them, so sorry to hear, they made you buckle. A single mum friend of mine recently had a very similar experience and she actually managed to sue them and win. Sorry this had to end like that for you and leaves nothing else to say than kinda silly-sounding cliches such as ‘maybe it was for the better…’. Hang in there!!
February 25th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Yeah, there might have been a possibility for me…issue was that my friend (a lawyer) said I’d have to pay for court proceedings, should I lose my case. Unfortunately that wasn’t a risk I could take, as far as money is concerned
I’m still pretty peeved at all that, but in the end, I think you’re right – it probably was for the better.