Here’s an interesting story from United Press International about a woman allegedly being fired for extending her maternity leave due to postpartum depression. I hope it’s not true. And may I take this opportunity to give a special shout out to my boss in 2001, Chuck Fruit at The Coca-Cola Company, who didn’t bat an eye when I stayed home 4+ months until I could handle going back to work because of my PPD.
"A Revlon cosmetics employee has filed a $25 million suit against the New York-based company alleging she was fired for getting pregnant.
Lisa Reilly, an assistant to infirmary Dr. Robert Krasner at the cosmetics giant, filed the lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court last week, charging alleged violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act …
Although Reilly said she’d been assured her job would be safe, she was fired after she extended her maternity leave because of postpartum depression."
This is unbelievable … here we've got a major company targeting women consumers. What the heck are they thinking? Great job blogging about this — we all need to speak out on this. I certainly hope she wins the entire $25 million.
This is just plain wrong. I really hope more workplaces start to adopt the ROWE philosophy – Results-Only Work Environment. It’s all about doing what you want, when you want, as long as the work gets done. And – you don’t need to be in the ‘office’ to get your work done – we all know that. This woman would never have suffered what she did if ROWE would have been in place. For anyone interested in learning more about ROWE (and getting it instituted in your work environment so this will never happen to you!), I encourage you to visit the creators’ blog – http://www.caliandjody.com/blog. Two strong women with a cause – hallelujah!
There are far too many women with PPD who end up losing their jobs because they are unable to return to work at the end of their maternity leave. As a physician who treats women with PPD, it absolutely amazes me how often women are denied additional leave when they are clearly too depressed to return to work.
We hear less about them because they don't file lawsuits, but there are other women who are forced to return to their jobs before recovering from PPD because they need the income.
It's hard enough for a woman to return to the workplace when she has young children, it doesn't have to be made more difficult by those who are insensitive to the issue of PPD.
There are far too many women with PPD who end up losing their jobs because they are unable to return to work at the end of their maternity leave. As a physician who treats women with PPD, it absolutely amazes me how often women are denied additional leave when they are clearly too depressed to return to work.
We hear less about them because they don't file lawsuits, but there are other women who are forced to return to their jobs before recovering from PPD because they need the income.
It's hard enough for a woman to return to the workplace when she has young children, it doesn't have to be made more difficult by those who are insensitive to the issue of PPD.
I was fired while on maternity leave because of ppd. What can I do ?