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Attempted choreographed termination after maternity leave, then laid off a year later

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pchops

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? NY

Thanks in advance for any advice. I'm looking to negotiate my severance package (2 months for every year). I was laid off a year after there was a choreographed termination attempt when I returned from maternity leave.

I am an admin assistant so I had access to documents and emails that can support a choreographed termination attempt. I also collected statements that also support this attempt. The supervisor also had terminated another woman on the team 4 months earlier when she returned from maternity. It is possible to suggest that the supervisor and her partner were having difficulties getting pregnant and therefore resented pregnant women. At any rate, the supervisor left 3 months after my return yet the damage was done and I had to work with the former supervisor's henchmen who assisted in the attempt.

The damages: The attempt made me so depressed. I cried all the time. I was nursing my son and when the work stress began, my milk production started to go down. After visiting doctors for infection and milk production issues, I still had to stop nursing about 3 months after I started work. During the time I nursed, I never called out sick for my son's health. Once I stopped nursing, my son was sick all the time so I had to use vacation days for him. At the same time, I started to see a therapist regarding the depression and the anxieties. I am still seeing the therapist since I still have nightmares to this day as to what happened to me. I also worked in fear of the ax falling due to the fact that I had to call out sick for my son.

Negotiation: I already had a prepared statement when they terminated me. Throughout the year, I had made it known to my HR rep that I was aware of the attempt and that I had damages. I also made it known to the HR rep that I was excelling as a worker despite this challenge and that as long as I saw my therapist, I would manage the stress. My verbal statement merely set a tone of the emotional stress I had throughout the year. I did not hand over the statement. I was told to see the Head of HR and I repeated my statement. I handed him a paper of suggestions on how to support the Nursing mother so not to damage her milk supply when returning to work.

I've worked for the company for 9 years and am considered the company cheerleader and won a CEO award due to my popularity.

At any rate, I want to negotiate my package. The most important thing that I want is time and therapy to help me get over what happened to me. The company that I work for takes strides in being a forerunner of a diverse and fair working environement if not liberal. Is it possible to request the following: double my severance package to 4 weeks per year worked (the parent company offers this), repayment of my outstanding 401k loan, reversal of the vacation days used for my sick son and accrued into the package, training of the staff regarding nursing mothers who work (we have a mother's room already), and I would like a monetary compensation but don't know how to work it in (medical bills? charge for private caregiver since daycare made my son sick all the time? )

sorry so long....
 


Beth3

Senior Member
You can request anything you want but you haven't provided any information on why you were terminated and whether it was for a reason that would give you any negotiating clout. Your termination being "choreographed" does not mean it was illegal.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Two months for every year is an EXTREMELY generous policy. I wouldn't hold my breath on receiving that.
 

pchops

Junior Member
Thank you both for your comments. I understand that I'm pushing things here. I was terminated with 50 others as part of a layoff. However, I work for a large media company that takes pride in being a forerunner of fair working environments if not extremely liberal. They have historically, made efforts to keep this claim. Once I established a claim early on, the HR dept. had seemed supportive. I believe they will negotiate. But the question is, how do I approach them with this in my counter agreement.

Thanks.
 

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