Worker Denied Promotion Because They Don’t Have Children, Woman With Kids Chosen Instead
Getting a promotion can feel like an incredible honor, especially early on in your professional career. It means new opportunities, new tasks, an increase in your skills, and probably an ego boost, too.
However, there's plenty of potential for office politics to rear its ugly head when promotions come around. Jealousy can fester, gossip whispered during lunch hours, or, sometimes, a direct admittance from the people in charge that they did something shady.
Our job can be a major source of stress, and that stress can build into something life-ruining if we're not careful.
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Working Our Way Up
Once we enter the workforce, especially if we're in a field we love or have studied for, we start looking upward, seeing where we can climb and the heights we can reach. New titles to be given, new responsibilities to take on, and, of course, new salaries to be earned.
We won't get every promotion we hope for, though. There are sometimes very real reasons why we're not ready or able to move up the ladder yet. But what happens if the reason for your rejection isn't reasonable at all?
The Issue At Hand
That's what one anonymous Reddit user experienced and then vented about in a post to the TrueOffMyChest subreddit, a forum where people go to complain, share secrets, or simply talk about life away from the prying eyes of their real-life peers.
The post was rather short but still dramatic, the opening title being, "Today I was passed over for a promotion because I don't have children." Immediately, this sounds like a shocking story, one we got to read quite a few details about.
A Decisive End
The user had already decided they were done with this job based on the denied promotion alone, the post itself starting with the following, "I won't be returning to my job. I gave my notice at the end of the day, effective immediately. I won't communicate with my old job at all. Tomorrow I will make an appointment with a solicitor to see if I have a discrimination claim due to family status."
If you're thinking that this might just be speculation from the person denied the promotion, rest assured, it's not.
Transparent Reasoning
And they know this because they were given the exact reason in writing. "I have a copy of the email my manager's manager sent me shortly after the promotion for my colleague was announced. The email is clear about why I didn't get the promotion ('she has a family to support and you do not' etc etc)."
Surely, this couldn't be the only reason, right? Maybe they simply weren't ready or right for that type of work?
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Far Too Far
This is also untrue, as the author then explains that, "I had temporarily acted in the role for a year and a half and my colleague has no experience in management."
They were, understandably, very upset about the decision. As they wrote, "I'm so angry that my colleague got the promotion over me just because she's a mum and I'm not. This is not the first time I've been mistreated at my job because I choose not to have children. But this time it was a bridge too far."
Not Alone
"I know I can't do anything until I meet with the solicitor but I'm so upset right now."
The comments were in full support of the user's anger, with many sharing similar stories from their own workplace. As one person wrote, "I was passed over for a promotion because the other person applying for the role wanted to make enough money that his wife could be a stay at home mom. Yes, my manager told me that word for word."
Family Benefits
Another shared, "I worked at one small company where management would always ask me to work late on projects because everyone else had to pick up and take care of their kids. Same with working holidays … 'Well, you're not married and your family is in a different state.'"
Others were shocked that the hiring manager put that detail in writing, immediately creating a very incriminating case. "Thank the heavens you have actual, concrete proof and not some verbal excuse given to you," read one comment, "I sincerely hope you take them to the cleaners and then find a better job elsewhere!"
Character And Skill
It'll certainly be a lesson learned for that employer when the hammer comes down, but it's also a lesson to every worker who reads that same story. There's potential for mistreatment in every workplace, even if it seems unlikely, impossible, or simply unexpected.
No one should ever have to beg for opportunity at their job. When it comes to promotions, people should be judged on merit alone; anything short of that is unjust.
