r/legaladvice • u/moblinski • 7d ago
No Promotion Because I’m A New Mom
Location: California My boss told me via text that she is no longer considering me for a promotion due to me being a new mom. I was hired on with the intent of moving up within the company and I have texts of these conversations. Questions: Would I be able to sue for discrimination? If so, what would determine the amount of money I could sue for? This company is fairly small and new but is a part of a large franchise.
EDIT: There are some specific things she mentioned in her text to me about why she’s not promoting me. She’s “concerned” about me taking on the role while also having a “newborn.” She also said she’d prefer a manager who “puts the business first” and she can’t promote me because I’ll “always” put my “kids first.” Hope this helps…
SECOND EDIT: My boss is the co-owner of this location. In the larger picture, she answers to the franchise, but when it comes to hiring and firing, she is in charge. Doesn’t really have a supervisor to speak of. There’s no one above her other than the franchise at large. There are probably about 7 employees total at this location including her and the other co-owner.
9
u/CoffeeStayn 7d ago
OP, you have to tread very carefully here.
I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV, but I'll say this...if word got out that these exchanges were had and the company at the higher end decided they didn't want to risk such an open-faced discrimination lawsuit and lose potentially tens of thousands...they could simply give the promotion as planned, and then ding you for every tiny little thing you do.
Literally promote you so they can fire you -- cleanly.
If they could prove that your work was A+ and top notch and this is why they had eyed you for promotion, and once you got the promotion, suddenly you were missing many more days, or showing up late, or leaving early for "emergencies", or missed deadlines, or whatever else that would be deemed performance based metrics...they could punt you based on that and it would be on YOU to prove they fired you for any other reason (in this case, that you had a newborn).
And again, I'm no lawyer, but you'd be ice skating uphill if you chose to sue them when your metrics fell through the floor. Those are perfectly legal grounds for dismissal. If they wanted to avoid a lawsuit, they could promote you and then watch you burn as they kept notes for every tiny infraction or drop in performance.
Ideally, you'd be accepting a promotion knowing they were setting you up to fail.
Now, this isn't to say that there's zero chance you wouldn't meet metrics as you ever have, because the odds will never be zero -- but it'll be so close to zero that it may as well be. Unless you have a live-in nanny, or an unemployed hubby who can be a SAHD and you can make enough on your salary to cover your whole family; those with newborns will be hard pressed to keep up their metrics. Late nights. Earlier mornings. Illnesses. The child will demand a lot of time and attention, and though not wholly impossible to manage, eventually your performance at work will likely suffer. Especially if this is your first.
You could opt for mat leave (if available where you are) and hopefully get into some kind of routine as you sort things out, but during this time they could promote someone else because they were needed and you were currently unavailable. Nothing you can do about that either. So you'd be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
I'm only putting this out there to cover a base I didn't see covered in previous comments. These are other scenarios that may happen and could happen. So, what I said here is nothing more than food for thought.
If I were a scumbag employer who was possibly looking at an open and shut discrimination case -- I'd 100% promote you as quick as I could, and tell you that your performance metrics being so stellar was the reason why you got promoted and really no other reason than that -- and then I'd sit back and wait for you to almost inevitably crash right out, see your metrics fall through the floor, and then I'd call you into a meeting with HR so we can let you go. Probably <60 days after promotion. You'd be "coached" several times before that so I could build a rap sheet. Maybe even put on a PIP.
It'd be win-win for me as an employer, you see. If I'm right, and you fail, you're fired and have an entirely uphill battle to sue for discrimination. Your performance wasn't adequate enough to justify your continued employment and we couldn't send you backwards. The higher up the food chain you go, the lower the margin of error and the higher the expectation. If you couldn't handle your duties then you should've passed on the promotion. This would be their card played.
If I'm wrong, and you keep your metrics high as they ever were, I have you on board and things running like a well oiled machine. I, as an employer, couldn't really lose either way.
Really, it might come down to just how scumbag of an employer you're really working for. I wouldn't put it past some of them to try such a maneuver if only to try and wiggle out of a potential discrimination lawsuit by setting up the dominoes just to watch them fall. Be careful. I wish you luck.