Telling the Boss - 6 Weeks, 1 Day

Yesterday I sat down with Jeff, my boss, and told him I felt badly that he’s had to take on some of my responsibilities since I had to assume some of Patti’s responsibilities (the girl who quit October 1). But I also asked him if I should be concerned about my job since I noticed Bernadette (the VP and his girlfriend) had started calling some HR candidates, which is usually my job. He said absolutely not – that he would tell me if I was doing poorly, but that he’s been very happy thus far and basically because Patti left, that meant I had to take on more responsibilities which meant that he and Bernadette had to accommodate by taking on some more responsibilities. He did mention he wanted to give me a raise come January to $60k to “get me closer to where I was before” I joined Seville.

So today, I bit the bullet and decided to tell Jeff that I was pregnant. I was going to wait until after the first trimester, when I was also due to receive a promotion (when our office moved) but it turns out now that our office isn’t moving until February, and I’ll be 4 ½ months pregnant by then – and probably showing. Plus I figured it was better to be upfront and let him know what was going on so he doesn’t think I’m always tired or sick at work.

So I walked in and told him that I had been debating when to tell him – and he came right out and said “You’re Pregnant”. It kind of took me by surprise… I said, “Yeah… okay.” Ultimately, he was very nice about it and said that it was exciting news, and congratulated Gerald and me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I may not get the raise or promotion I was in line to get. He had mentioned many times previously that once we move he was going to change my job and increase my responsibilities – I really hope that still happens. He mentioned that when he had drinks with Waleed (my old boss) the other week, Jeff said to Waleed “well that’s okay as long as she doesn’t get pregnant” and Waleed said that I had alluded that that was not something I anticipated to happen anytime soon. I asked Jeff what it was that would be okay as long as I didn’t get pregnant… and he just said “oh you know” and changed the subject. I’m guessing it was a promotion.

So I’m a little down – legally he can’t discriminate and deny me a promotion I would have received if I weren’t pregnant. So I guess we’ll see. I know I did the right thing by telling him, so hopefully it all works out in the end.