Hr Giving Me A Hard Time For Being Pregnant.

I apologize for the long read, but basically, my HR sucks.

So first and foremost, I am currently 16 weeks pregnant in California. My pregnancy has been rough. Lots of nausea and my migraines have ramped up since becoming pregnant and they are debilitating (blurred vision, nausea, the works). I’m doing everything I can to get rid of them, using supplements, trying to stay stress free, etc. but they still come through at times. I told my boss I was pregnant at 5 weeks because they apparently had plans for me to take on a new position. I have a wedding coming up and I’m newly pregnant so I told them I would be more than happy to let them give it to someone else. This particular position needs lots of consistency and to be honest, I was happy with the position I was currently in. They basically told me no, they’ll figure it out and it’ll be fine. I also did not know I officially had the position until they sent out an email notifying staff and customers.

Later on, HR pulled me into a meeting with my location manager and one of the directors of the company. They basically said that my sick time/vacation time was running out (I’m salary or exempt) due to previous call outs, time off, etc. This conversation was totally fine and I completely understood. Then HR went into saying there was a “pattern” with my callouts and that my callouts correlate with my days off. I let her know that I cannot predict when I will not be feeling well and that I am currently pregnant and have not been feeling the best. She proceeded to tell me that when she was pregnant, she threw up in a trash can multiple times a day at work and laughed. I told her my days off were Fridays and Sundays, is she saying she would prefer if I called out on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only? She said no, but that she’s just pointing out the “pattern”. She then called me disrespectful and that I should never “speak to a higher up that way”.

After this topic, we went into the fact that I was (verbally) promised one thing by the owner when I was hired and I’m completely doing another and I would be open to discussing an hourly non exempt position as long as I can keep my pay the same, I keep the position I was promised and I can get in writing a minimum of 40 hours per week. HR said she would discuss it with the owner and we will see.

Later in another meeting, just me and HR, she got back to me with an offer of $6hr less than what I was making and wouldn’t put in writing the amount of hours I would get per week. I refused to sign and asked, if they were adding more onto my job responsibilities, why are they lowering my pay? She told me to be “salary” they basically could over work me and call me whenever they wanted whether that was 12am or on my day off if I decided to stay exempt. That my job would be more responsibility (adding on 2 new job titles - total of 4 titles all together), and whatever I don’t get done, I have to get done in my own time. These positions were a lot of work so I wouldn’t be guaranteed to be working over 40 hours. If I went non exempt, they would leave me alone in my off hours. I asked HR if she personally felt like I wasn’t earning my pay and she said “well, I think the owner did some things he shouldn’t have done and he hired me to clean some things up”. Insinuating that he offered me too much money when he hired me. She also said that other directors and my location manager told her that they feel like I could be doing more and that I’m not doing enough. I asked her what I was lacking as I’ve never had a negative review or been spoken to about performance and she said I “never answer the phones when I’m at the desk” I told her I was shocked and I would love to speak with my manager after this meeting to address it since I’ve never been spoken to about it. She then backpedaled and said “well I’m not here all the time so I can’t really say what you do and don’t do”.

I knew this was a flat out lie and she pulled this out of her ass, so I asked my managers if I had poor performance, if I wasn’t doing enough and asked about the answering phones to which they said this has never been said by them.

Anyways, I dragged my feet, went back and forth with HR and finally got up to $36hr, only about $4 below what I was making and they added in my offer “35-40 hours per week when feasible”. I felt defeated and mentally exhausted at this point and HR was harassing and hounding me to sign this paperwork. I know I shouldn’t have signed it, but I was extremely stressed and that’s obviously not good during pregnancy. I also did not want to be forced to work 50 hour weeks while pregnant.

OKAY now with that aside, I have not worked with them for 12 months (July is the 12 month mark) to qualify for FMLA and I’m terrified of calling out even though I have a doctor’s note to excuse me due to my migraines and nausea. This HR lady has a personal vendetta against me and I feel like she could get me fired. If she does, can I go after them legally for all the shit they’ve put me through? All of this didn’t start until after I was pregnant.

My location manager also told me off the record that HR allegedly had said to him “Hey, haven’t you had a meeting with OP about her points but you didn’t document it?” - we have a points system at work for call outs, late clock ins, etc. - he told her “No I have absolutely not had a meeting with her. She only has 1.5 points”. He said something doesn’t feel right to him either and he was told that sympathizing with me is “insubordination”.

I’ve been asked by family and friends why the owner hasn’t spoken to me since he was the one that hired me in the first place and I couldn’t tell you… why HR is handling all of this, I have no idea. It all feels extremely shady and doesn’t sit right with me.

This is all completely stressing me out and would love some advice!!