Infertility and Work
Posted on August 20, 2008
Welcome to the Twin Peas Blog and Podcast! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my updates by RSS feed or you can have new posts and episodes sent right to your Email. Thanks for visiting!
It was only a matter of time before infertility and work would become a battle in the courts. Have you ever heard the saying that goes something like, “Leave your personal life at home and your work at the office.” We’ll as much as we might try to leave our personal lives out of the workplace and our jobs out of our personal lives, they go hand in hand. I know I’m guilty. When ever I had a crappy project, bad boss, or job I hated it would flow into my home life. And when my husband and I found out about our infertile status, it carried over in to my career.
Cheryl Hall was doing her best to become pregnant. She knew that she needed to take time away from work in order to increase her chances for a successful IVF. What she didn’t expect was to be terminated from her job either because of her medical absences or indirectly because of them. Read about Cheryl’s fight here,Can a Woman be Fired for Absenteeism Related to Fertility Treatments? A Federal Court of Appeals Says No.
When we were about to start fertility treatments I as approached for a contract job. Before I accepted the work, which was to last about 2 1/2 months and smack dab in the middle of our first IVF cycle, I informed the company that I would be going out of town for two weeks for fertility treatments. If that would have been an inconvenience for them I would have declined the work. I was amazed at their compassion, understanding, and flexibility. I took the project and they were some of my biggest champions during my treatment and after a successful pregnancy was confirmed.
I wish Cheryl the best of luck. No matter the outcome, she should be commended for sticking up for what she thought was the right thing to do. Her efforts to fight for protecting preconception (and/or infertile) rights will help hundreds if not thousands of women that might find themselves in her position. It will no doubt change the way employers consider and treat their employees that are dealing with infertility. Go Cheryl.
Creative Commons image courtesy of H4NUM4N.
» Filed Under Infertility
Comments
Leave a Reply
