Can you believe discrimination against pregnant women and parents are still rife in Australia? ------ JUST over a year ago, Julianne*, a tax accountant, found out she was pregnant. She had been in her profession for nine years and had been with her company for six years when she broke the news to her bosses. In her six years with the accounting firm in Brisbane, Julianne had been a star performer and was on the leadership track. Her work ethic had been rewarded over the years with a plushy office that overlooked the park, bonuses and great reviews. She told news.au: “There was a succession plan where I was going to take over the business.” So she was not prepared for what came next. When she told her bosses she was pregnant, she was immediately freezed-out by management and most of her colleagues. She said that no one in her office, except for one friend, spoke to her for three weeks. Any instructions she received came through email. After the initial cold shoulder period, she was moved out of her office into a much smaller one. When her pay review came around, she didn’t get the bonus she received every year and wasn’t even given a pay rise in line with inflation. She was shown job ads from recruiters to show how replaceable she was. Her bosses refused to engage with her on a return to work plan. They ruled out, without discussion, a plan to come back part time and wouldn’t agree to a solid return date. Every time she brought it up, she was told they didn’t “want to talk about it.” If there was any doubt her pregnancy was why she was treated this way, an email she was copied in on (whether intentional or not) dispelled any such questions. The email, seen by news.au, was correspondence between the firm’s management and a recruiter looking for another accountant. In one of the emails, Julianne’s boss specified that he would prefer to see only male candidates because all the women in his office have kids or were about to go on parental leave. When...
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 09:05:14 +0000
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