Overview: This two-part series examines parental leave policies and workplace rights, breaking down federal protections, wage replacement, and legal compliance to help families and employers navigate career transitions securely.
Part 1: How to Document Workplace Discrimination Before Your Baby Arrives (And Why It Matters)
Having a baby is one of the most exciting times in your life. While you wait for your baby to arrive, you may be wondering how this tiny human will fit into and alter your existing life. Babies naturally result in changes to our lives. Unfortunately, in our practice, where we represent employees in employment matters, we see that pregnancy, maternity leave, and paternity leave are common times when workplace problems start to surface, sometimes subtly, sometimes not.
Why is this the case? There is still a lot of bias around what people can and cannot do once they have a baby. Bosses and managers may be concerned about your output at work. This is especially common with high performers because there is still a persistent stereotype that once an employee has a baby, he or she will be less committed to work. Unfortunately, this stereotype seems to be particularly strong for women. We often see bosses and managers start to micromanage employees, becoming more critical and controlling, after they have a baby.
Men can also face scrutiny for taking paternity leave because some employers do not think it is necessary. This can be especially true in male-dominated industries. Fathers may face assumptions that they should not need significant time away from work or that taking parental leave means they are less committed to their careers.
The choice to take leave, and how much leave to take, is unique to everyone. But if you decide to take this special time, make sure you protect yourself. Documentation before you go on leave can be key to protecting yourself later on. You will not regret protecting yourself in the long run.
Start with a baseline.
Before you leave, take stock of where things stand. What is your reputation like? How are your performance reviews? What are your sales or production numbers like? What is your workload, and how are your relationships with your manager and colleagues? Are you included in meetings? If so, which ones? Do you manage employees? Are you responsible for important clients or accounts? Do you regularly travel for work? Have you recently discussed a promotion, raise, bonus, or new opportunity?
Write down the information that matters and preserve records you are permitted to retain while everything is still fresh. This way, if things change after you return, you have a clear picture of what your professional life looked like before leave. That comparison can become important if an employer later claims that your performance, responsibilities, or standing within the company had already changed before you took leave.
What to save:
- Positive performance reviews and written praise
- Examples of your workload and responsibilities
- Emails or messages reflecting your standing on the team
- Any promotions, raises, or positive feedback from supervisors
- Appropriate text messages with colleagues
- Informal invitations to drinks, dinners, trips, or other work-related events
- Compensation and bonus structure
- Sales or production numbers
- Recent awards or recognition
- Information showing which employees you manage
- Records reflecting important clients, projects, or accounts you handle
- Documentation of existing remote or flexible work arrangements
The goal is not to collect every document you have ever received at work. The goal is to preserve an accurate picture of your performance, responsibilities, relationships, and opportunities before you take leave.
What NOT to do:
First, do not automatically forward work emails to your personal account. This is a common instinct, but it can violate company policy and create separate problems for you, even if your intentions are good. Before saving, copying, or photographing anything, review your company’s policies and make sure you are complying with privacy, confidentiality, data security, and other applicable rules. Be particularly careful with confidential company information, trade secrets, client or customer information, medical information, or other protected material.
Second, be thoughtful about how you communicate concerns you may have about getting enough work done once the baby arrives. You should not diminish your abilities or assume that becoming a parent will make you less capable of doing your job. At the same time, do not be afraid to ask for an accommodation or workplace change you need, such as additional work-from-home time or flexible start or end times. Asking for something you need is different from assuming you will no longer be capable of performing your job.
Pay attention to changes before your leave even starts.
Discrimination does not always begin when an employee returns from parental leave. Sometimes the shift starts during pregnancy or after an employee announces that he or she intends to take leave. A manager who previously trusted you may suddenly start checking your work constantly. Someone may make comments about whether you are planning to return, whether you will still want to travel, or whether you will be able to handle your workload with a baby.
Do not automatically dismiss those changes. Pay attention to what is happening, when it started, who is involved, and whether other employees are treated differently. If someone makes a comment that concerns you, make a contemporaneous note of what was said, who said it, when it happened, and who else was present.
Why this matters:
Documentation is the foundation of many strong legal claims. At our firm, when we evaluate a discrimination case arising after maternity or paternity leave, we often need to understand the “before.” This is crucial because memories fade, managers change, and employers may later describe an employee’s history very differently. Appropriate contemporaneous documentation showing strong reviews, significant responsibilities, positive relationships, and a history of good performance can make it much easier to identify and demonstrate what changed afterward.
Here is what we see at our firm: some companies interact differently with employees after they come back from post-baby leave. Suddenly, employees are micromanaged. Bosses cannot seem to trust them to get their work done the way they did before. Other times, an employee is no longer included in important client meetings or invited on work trips. We also see employees being set up for failure when they return and then placed on a performance improvement plan (“PIP”) when they cannot meet unrealistic or newly created expectations.
Some people we work with are even notified while on leave that they have been terminated and will not be permitted to return. This is another reason to think about documentation before you leave rather than waiting until something goes wrong. Hopefully, you return to the same supportive workplace you left. But taking a little time before leave to document the professional reputation and career you spent years building can put you in a much better position if something changes.
This article is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and individual circumstances vary. If you believe your rights have been violated, consult with an employment attorney about your specific situation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Megan Thomas, Esq. is a plaintiff’s employment attorney and the founder of Megan Thomas Law, PLLC, a New York-based firm dedicated exclusively to representing employees in cases involving workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. She never represents employers, and her practice is grounded in the belief that workplace culture only changes when there are real consequences for misconduct. Megan’s advocacy is informed by personal experience with workplace harassment early in her career, and her work has been featured in outlets including Entrepreneur, Bloomberg Law, and Law360. She lives and practices in Syracuse, New York, with her husband and two children.
Cover photo by Kampus Production
