Working in IT company after pregnancy & maternity leave

1. Suppose a woman has health issues during pregnancy and takes medical leaves in between and is not able to perform 100% as other people , can she be fired from the job or thrown out from project?

Yes she can, unfortunately. Doesn't matter what happens in our personal life. We need to perform 100% if we decide to work.

2. Can she ask for being put on bench if the health is very bad and project is too hectic? Will the boss release her or force her to work in the project till 9th month?

Best option is to take unpaid leave or quit the job; Rejoin once you feel better.

3. What is the maximum duration of leave without pay that a woman can take after she has finished her maternity leaves and exhausted all paid leaves?

Talk to your HR; Each company is different

4. If a new mom gets a project with heavy work, late hrs and late calls, can she refuse to join such a project? Will HR support her or force her to join?

HR won't support; If we decide to work, the expectation is to put 100% effort;

However, you can let your manager know that you cannot work over time;

I work during lunch hours as well and limit my late night calls; Still I have to catch up some work during night.

 

Hi generic

I have just returned to work after maternity leave but in US. Congratulations if you are in family way.

I totally agree with previous poster. You are expected to work 100%. I do not know how is it in India But I think it should be better then as environment is less professional and more casual in India than US, I think. This has good and bad both sides.
IT companies, mostly are product based for US companies, have lot of staff so one person, if less productive, there is another to take care of staff and I think people help each other at work.

I went back to work after 2 months, thinking 1 more month will pass easily as I will get maternity advantage but it was opposite.

The day I went to office, I was given big lecture about lot of work, and deadlines and asked everyday about results soon. I did not remember anything and had lost all the knowledge and confidence. I was Bf'ing which made it worse. This had put lot of pressure on me that I wanted to quit.

They had lot of work & deadlines and If they are paying me, they will expect me to work.

Some friends had very smooth experience. I think it depends on manager and , project schedule also.


Now, fast forwarding,, I do not take lunch breaks, sit longer hours if i have to, work on weekends if i have to...same as any other IT women do.

Life is busier than ever and I do not get any personal time. Even for grocery, we do not get any time.

I would say first take as much time off as you can.
Take some 3rd persons help - maid, relatives etc. If possible have someone live with you.

HR can tell only leave-policies, not when and how much you work. Some companies do have policies where new moms should be given more flex timings, WFH.
If yes, your manager must be aware of that and you can talk to him about it.

If your company provides that, and mangaer not allowing, then you can talk to HR, but in real life will not work...better to quit.

If returning is too difficult, quit and rejoin after break. People do that...I know,easy to say, difficult to do.

 

We (European company, office in India) have flex-time (mandatory to be in office between 10:30-17:00, working hours 8.5 hours) and now also work-from-home option (1-2 days per week, needs to be agreed/approved before hand, results and participations in meetings etc should not be impacted). Now and then we have very late meetings/calls (due to time difference) but those are taken from home and informed in advance.

Leave policy is up to HR and I do not know the details as no-one yet (?) been going on maternity leave from my team. You are supposed to work 100% but it can be possible sometimes to arrange a more "easy" position but that is then reflected in your salary/career. As a manager I do expect that the people do their work as agreed. Sudden emergencies are then a different case.

 

generic - do not worry much. When things get out of hand, quitting is good option and you do not have to answer people/relatives/family as you have good & valid reasons.

Also returning back to work will not be impossible as you can mention this reason.

 

generic,

It boils down to your manager's support. No firm would want to retain an employee on bench (paying full time) without assigning work. But many firms give several options which if you have good manager would recommend to you.
(e.g) 1. Sabbatical leaves - unpaid upto 1 year.
2. Part time hours - some firms offer part time jobs for employees to handle personal life as well for upto 1 year
3. Working from Home - based on your manager & firm.
4. medical leave - based on Doctor's recommendations.- (e.g) if it is a complicated pregnancy needing bed rest etc).

Please do not plan pregnancy based on work. Please plan work to suit your pregnancy.

 

Very well said generic.
"Please do not plan pregnancy based on work. Please plan work to [COLOR=#009900 !important]suit[/COLOR] your pregnancy."

I kind of did this mistake and was postponing pregnancy for these work struggle reasons.
Now looking at my beautfil baby, nothing is more important.

 

And keep also in mind that pregnancy does not mean illness/sickness. In some rare cases there is a need to take sick leave (high blood pressure, nausea etc) but in most cases you can live a completely normal life even if you are pregnant. I have been pregnant myself four times and never experienced any major issue with that. My last pregnancy was kind of tough in the beginning (nausea, fatigue) but managed to work normally. A different story is then how my home looked like at those time .