Pregnancy may look perfect in the movies but the stress of carrying a human for 9 months, hearing outdated advice from OBs, and dealing with nausea and/or nerve-wracking complications is the reality for most. Telling an employer you’re having a baby can be anxiety-inducing because of stories like this one: getting fired when you’re 30 weeks along.
TikTok user @alexandracarson19 shared that when she hit 30 weeks of her pregnancy, she was let go. She wrote in the caption, “Not sharing the name of the company, but its sad how common this is for women to deal with!”
Carson explained that after she set up her maternity leave (of only 12 weeks… sigh) at the company where she has been a full-time employee for two and a half years, she found out on June 12th, 2024 that she was being let go. She was supposed to take her maternity leave beginning in August 2024.
Many have shared their pregnancy stories on TikTok, from being 10 months pregnant, to raising awareness of the need for compassion toward high schoolers who are expecting. Alex Carson’s TikTok is truly upsetting, and while we feel terrible hearing her story (and this would be more than enough to empathize with), it gets worse. Carson said she didn’t receive any negative feedback on her work performance throughout her employment. She followed company guidelines and did 8-9 inspections during each work day. Her manager said she wasn’t “showing high productivity” from 6 to 8, and one hour following her shift’s conclusion, she was fired.
Right away, people commented on the TikTok and urged Carson to find a lawyer and sue. TikTok user @NevergunnagiveUup wrote, “Girl you about to get PAID. Get that lawyer and get the $$$ you deserve.” TikTok user @miss_aislinn shared her own story and wrote, “Let go at 38 weeks, filed a charge and the EEOC found them in violation. Take action!”
According to CBS News, it’s illegal to fire someone and use their pregnancy as the reason… but people can be let go for other reasons whether or not they are pregnant, and the company says Alex’s firing is based on something other than her pregnancy. This could be why Alex Carson was told she wasn’t productive for certain hours of the day.
In part 2, Alex Carson shared that she told her boss it was “suspicious timing” because she had 10 weeks before her maternity leave. We couldn’t agree more. We don’t know if Carson talked to a lawyer, but we’ll be watching her TikTok to see if there’s an update on the story.
Of course, there’s also the issue of the lack of proper parental leave as The Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) only allows around 3 months (but that’s another issue).
