Employee Asks If He’s Wrong For Telling His Manager The Truth About Pregnant Coworker Because It Might Get Her Fired

Fertility struggles can have a significant impact on your work ethic.

Individuals and couples facing fertility issues may have a deeply personal and emotional experience. The process of conceiving a child can be fraught with uncertainty, stress, and disappointment, all of which can have serious consequences for one’s mental health. Furthermore, if you’ve been trying for a child for a long time and are still unsuccessful, it can have an impact on your work ethic. After all, if your mental health isn’t in good shape, how can you expect to work diligently? However, this does not imply that your coworkers will automatically take up your slack.

I am aware that there are laws in place that prohibit employers from firing someone simply because they are pregnant, but the following story is a little different. You see, the original poster (OP) has been with the company for a while, and they have always thought that their coworker was lazy and never tried to learn how to do better work. However, the people around her never said much, which allowed her to continue being a slacker. But this issue has now escalated to the point where it will directly affect the OP if nothing is done.

Scroll down to read the entire story and make your own decision on how OP should handle this.

Source: Reddit

Just from the title, we can tell that OP does feel for the woman and her fertility struggles, but they are stuck in a very problematic situation.

OP seems to really love his work, and the woman in question will be named Hannah for this story.

The company got new workers five years ago, and they all had the same opportunities to learn and get ahead in their careers.

While the other workers have thrived in the situation, Hannah hasn’t really taken advantage of the opportunities and doesn’t really try to learn.

According to the OP, the boss is a good person, but he is also too busy to really pay attention to the day-to-day operation, which means Hannah has been under the radar all this time.

Via Reddit

Hannah has had a hard time when it comes to conceiving a child, and she has always been open about her struggles, but that has also affected her work.

OP truly does feel for her, even if he can’t imagine what she is going through.

This is where things got a bit sticky, as Hannah has been assigned to the team that OP will be heading.

Now, OP isn’t sure whether he should lie and keep her safe or tell the truth about her work ethic, which could end with her losing her job.

OP doesn’t want anything to jeopardise her pregnancy, but it also isn’t fair for the other employees to do her part of the work.

Via Reddit

To be honest, I feel like this is a lose-lose situation. The OP should have said something earlier because it now appears that they are targeting her because of her pregnancy. And, while the stress of being reprimanded or even losing a job can be detrimental to pregnancy, OP has few options. After all, it is not their responsibility to complete her portion of the task as well.

The best way for the OP to get out of this situation is to delegate the responsibility of providing a fair evaluation to their superiors to someone else.

People in the comments were generally on his side.

And most of them even gave the OP quite a few good advice points.

The OP needs to make sure that there isn’t any sort of unintentional bias or discrimination.

It is a lose-lose situation at this point.

We are all humans, so being unemotional doesn’t really work in all instances, especially when pregnancy is involved.

Via Reddit

Her co-workers don’t deserve to get stuck with her part of the job as well.

A test might be a safer way to make sure everyone knows her deficiencies when it comes to work.

OP needs to keep the future in mind as well.

I am surprised that nobody has talked to her before about her work.

I wouldn’t make the assumption that she doesn’t care about her job, though.

Via Reddit

What are your thoughts on this situation? How would you react if you were in this situation? Do you think it is only fair that the OP be honest and the woman loses her job? Or do you think OP should wait because she is pregnant? Let us know in the comments section below, and don’t forget to share this story with your friends so they can add their thoughts as well.