Laid off and pregnant. Now what?

bynkr4084

12 followers

6 years ago

Two weeks ago, I walked into my advertising job eager to get to work. Per my usual routine, I grabbed a cup of coffee and started reading the emails that had flooded my inbox. Within 15 minutes I was approached by the President of the company: "May I speak with you in the conference room really quick?" His facial expressions left me confused - it seemed bad, but almost seemed like it could be an urgent project of some sort. I folllowed, bringing my cup coffee to keep me comfort.

As soon as we walked into the conference room he said, "I'm sorry. We've got some shitty news. We have to let you go.

STAGE 1: WTH IS HAPPENING

My heart sunk. My head started spinning. I knew what this was. How was this happening?!? My husband and I had just been talking about buying a bigger house considering we would have THREE kids now in a three bedroom house. I could see all my hopes of a stress-free pregnancy going down the drain and only muffled speech in the background as they tried to explain "why" I was being laid off. Blah blah blah, client budgets have been declining, blah blah blah, this has nothing to do with your performance, blah f*ing blah.

I tried keeping a straight face. Stay positive, I told myself. Having a meltdown won't do any good. Keep it in...stop the tears. As hard as I tried, there was no holding it back. I told them I understood (but I didn't) and that I could use a break (which I couldn't afford). As soon as they escorted me out, like a criminal, I called my husband, barely able to speak. "Babe. I just got laid off."

STAGE 2: GLASS CASE OF EMOTIONS

From this moment on, there was a rush of emotions. Anger, fear, sadness, motivation to find something better, then total lack of motivation (i.e. laying in bed comtemplating my entire life), exhaustion, more sadness and fear, then anger again. And so many questions. What had I done wrong that they didn't see me as an invaluable part of the team? Was it because of my morning sickness and fatigue that plagued me for weeks at the beginning of the year? Was it because they didn't want to deal with paid maternity leave? How am I going to find a job now? I'm visibly showing! No one wants someone to start only to be on maternity leave for three months. I will surely be judged.

STAGE 3: OK, BUT REALLY, I HAVE TO FIGURE SOMETHING OUT

Finally, after a few days, the chaos calmed down (but didn't completely subside - I still have mini meltdowns). I updated my resume and stared for hours at Indeed and LinkedIn to see what else was out there. I reached out to several contacts in hopes that my network may be able to me out. I researched a billion different ways to make money after being laid off pregnant, with only a few giving me hope. We evaluated all of our bills and expenses to determine how long we could stretch my only 2 week severance pay and what we would need to cut from our lifestyle. And here I am today, two weeks later. Still jobless. Still pregnant.

So what's next? I have no clue. I'm trying to figure out how I can put my skills to use on my own - maybe I can be a marketing consultant? (Which is what I updated my job title on LinkedIn to be). Maybe I'll hear back about another job and I can hide my belly good enough to get my foot in the door before they have a chance to judge :)

I'm writing this today because I know I'm not the only one that this has happened to. We can pretend that laying off pregnant women is fair since it's "legal" in the U.S., but it's not fair. The fact is:

Pregnant women ARE judged and a person who is NOT pregnant has a better chance of getting a job than someone who is visibly pregnant.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON LAYING OFF PREGNANT A WOMAN? HAS IT HAPPENED TO YOU?