Maternity leave issues

aniya · Oct 31, 2015

Can we completely detach ourselves from office during our maternity leave or are we expected to keep checking mails and keep in touch at work? My boss expects me to check mails everyday, respond and also do some work from home. Is that acceptable?Im finding it difficult to balance work right now because of the baby. Also checking mails is not that easy, there always are numerous mails which i need to reply to and it takes time. Also i need to discuss some things with my boss and he then tells me that once i am back i need to do this and that which irritates me now as i don't want to actually thing abut work now. Have you ladies also faced this?

Akanksha1982 · Oct 31, 2015

I had setup an outgoing default message saying, "I am on maternity leave. I will be checking email infrequently and my response may be delayed. Please contact xxxx (my manager) if there are any urgent issues".

With this at least the email originator understands.

I think your manager is not understanding is behaving unreasonably. He can't force you to work while you are on official leave. Just tell him clearly, that you will not be able to work and you will not be able to check emails regularly. If there are urgent questions, he can call you. If possible put this in an email so that there is a trace. Say something like, "I understand you are expecting me to work while I am on a maternity leave but I will not be able to work. I will try to check email whenever possible. If there is anything urgent, feel free to call me".

Best Luck.

armummy · Oct 31, 2015

No you are required to check emails during your maternity leave z

tell him you will unavailable during that time and may be in India .

if this is extra leave which is above your normal 12 weeks then may be you can accommodate his requests .

generic · Nov 1, 2015

According to what I observed in my previous organization (in India), we are not expected to work or reply to mails during the 3 months maternity leave...Usually women check mails occasionally to see if there is any important mails from HR, or any general notifications from the organization..all women who go on maternity leave usually put "out of office" message during their ML...Many opt for leave without pay for additional 3 months and they do not work that time..any kind of project related work is started only after they officially rejoin office after ML+LOP.
I do not think you should take the added stress of work related stuff during maternity leave is its meant for relaxation and baby care..After completing your ML, if you are officially working and working from home then yes you need to constantly check mails.
I am not aware of the leave policies in your place of work, but I would not agreed to work in this situation. Is'nt your boss taking advantage of you?

aniya · Nov 1, 2015

yes i feel my boss is being unreasonable. i have about 4 months leave including my vacation days and the management is making it sound as though i have had a 4 month vacation and also they say that other companies only give 4 -6 weeks etc. Yes but we should bother about our company policies rather than look at other companies. Checking mails is also part of work, management is assuming that it is not work just basic mail checking, which should not be as there is already an out of office message.

radhaparth2000 · Nov 2, 2015

When a person is on leave, its really unreasonable to have any expectation. Out of Office is Out of Office, please make it clear to your boss you will not be able to check emails as you will have erratic schedules due to LO. Even if its extended maternity/LOP there is no need to check emails. Put it smartly and make it clearly you are Out Of Office. You need t be 100% detached from office when on leave that too on ML

Pia03 · Nov 30, 2015

In India things are different I think.
We get Maternity leave of 3 months and are not supposed to work. And even I don't think ,can work with our LO. Kid will need our time.
I think you need to clearly convey your manager that you cant work at this time.
Best Luck to you. :2thumbsup:

aniya · Dec 10, 2015

Thank you all ladies for your advice, after reading all this i had the guts to stop checking my mails completely or maybe once in weeks, refuse any work and even refuse conference calls. I now feel i am correct and they are or were trying to take undue advantage of me. Can you imagine they even wanted me to travel for training to a neighboring country for 2 days!! I said a big NO.

I hope my guts to say no continues once i join back to office as baby is always the most important thing now.

Thank you,