The director of a company in California, USA, dismissed an employee because of "the two sons making a lot of noise" during the professional calls imposed by the reality of working remotely due to the Corona virus crisis, according to a report published by the French news website "LCE".
The employee is called Drees Wallace, a mother of two children (1 year and 4 years) and active on social media, and has published the details of her story on the Instagram platform with the aim of "educating public opinion about gender discrimination and prejudices about mothers" in the professional community, she says.
Stress and expectations
"I want other companies to look at my story and train their employees to avoid discrimination and revenge, and I hope that one day the mothers are respected at work."
Wallace recounts the details of her story, confirming that the first weeks of her tele-work - with the start of the quarantine procedures in mid-March - were "very stressful", especially with multiple communications and emails, lots of pressure and "unrealistic expectations" from before. Its head.
"What made it even more difficult was that my child always interrupted me while working, and the youngest always wanted to breastfeed, and they had to constantly wait until I finished my tasks, before I could meet their needs, my heart was breaking for them."
Wallace asserts that she struggled to tackle the problem, which was exacerbated by her two sons refusing to sit all day in front of the TV, as she bought them pens and other supplies in the hope that they could occupy themselves.
It worked tirelessly however
"Over the past few months I have worked tirelessly to respect the deadlines that have been set for me, and my manager has begun to feel frustrated hearing the two children in the background during our communications," says Wallace.
"He told me that he does not want to hear them again when I call our customers," she said, stressing that this is unprofessional and that I have to find a way to keep them calm ... He kept repeating these words constantly.
On June 2, the Human Resources Department in the company summoned Wallace, which believed that the aim of its invitation was to help it find a solution to its problem, after it had previously explained its findings to the concerned authorities in the company, to be surprised by the dismissal decision.
Sex discrimination
And she says "I couldn't believe it, what did I do to deserve that? The administration explained its decision to record a decrease in revenue due to Corona, but that was not true, and was an excuse to cover up its illegal motives, as it continued to hire new employees after my expulsion, and the company did not fire any workers During the epidemic period. "
In addition to her campaign on communication sites, Wallace, in an attempt to restore her right, appointed lawyer Daphne Delvo, who announced on Instagram that she had filed many complaints against former Wallace employer, and had centered on accusations of discrimination based on sex and revenge over the condemnation of her injustice.
Many mothers complaints
Delvo asserts that during the recent period she received complaints from many mothers who had suffered a similar fate to what Wallace had exposed, which left her story on the communication sites a wave of solidarity from inside and outside America, noting that "the law is on our side, and that justice will be achieved."