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I was fired for being late to work three times in one month while caring for my sick daughter as a pregnant single mother. Meanwhile, my manager's son-in-law showed up two hours late almost every day with zero consequences.
The company had this "three strikes" attendance policy that everyone feared. I'd been a perfect employee for six years - top sales numbers, never missed deadlines, always stayed late when needed. I'd even received "Employee of the Quarter" four times and helped train half the department.
Then my six-year-old daughter Lily developed severe asthma that winter. With no family nearby and being five months pregnant, I juggled morning nebulizer treatments before dropping her at school, sometimes making me 15-30 minutes late. I explained the situation to my manager Sandra, who nodded sympathetically but said, "Policy is policy. Everyone gets treated the same."
What made this harder was that I was working two jobs - my full-time position at Thompson Financial and weekend shifts at a local café to afford Lily's medications. The pregnancy was unexpected, and her father had disappeared the moment I showed him the positive test.
After my second late arrival, Sandra called me into her office. "This is your final warning, Rachel. One more late arrival and I'll have to let you go." Her voice was firm but her eyes showed no compassion as she slid the warning letter across her desk.
"I understand, but is there any way I could adjust my hours temporarily? I could stay later to make up the time."
"Everyone works 8 to 5. No exceptions." She glanced at my pregnant belly with barely disguised contempt.
What Sandra didn't know was that I'd heard rumors about her favoritism. Coworkers whispered about how her relatives got special treatment, but everyone was too afraid to speak up.
The following Tuesday, Lily had an asthma attack at 6 AM. By the time I got her breathing normally and to school, I was 22 minutes late. I texted my coworker Jen that I was running behind.
"Be careful," she replied. "Sandra's waiting by your desk with HR."
As predicted, when I arrived, Sandra and Tim from HR were standing there with identical grim expressions.
"Rachel, you know why we're here," Sandra said, not even asking about Lily.
I was handed my termination letter without discussion. As I packed my desk, coworkers avoided eye contact - all except Jen, who slipped me a note: "This isn't right. Call me later."
That evening, Jen called with shocking information. "Sandra's been changing time records for months. Not just Brian's - her nephew in accounting and her cousin in marketing too. Everyone knows it, but she's buddies with the regional VP."
"How do you know she's changing records?" I asked.
"Because I work in IT, remember? I've seen her login to the system after hours. Plus, Brian brags about it in the break room."
That same week, I had to return to the office to sign some final paperwork. As I waited in the lobby, Brian strolled in at 11:30 AM, looking like he'd just rolled out of bed.
"Morning, Cindy," he said to the receptionist, who just waved him through.
"Does Brian ever get marked late?" I asked her once he was gone.
"All the time," she whispered. "He hasn't been on time once this month. But Sandra adjusts his timecard every week."
Cindy hesitated, then added, "Look, I'm not supposed to do this, but..." She turned her monitor toward me, showing Brian's attendance record for the month - perfectly on time every day according to the system.
"Can you email me that?" I asked.
She looked terrified. "I could lose my job."
"So did I," I reminded her. "For being late three times while caring for my sick child."
Something in her expression changed. "Give me your personal email."
Within an hour, I had screenshots of not only Brian's records but also Sandra's other relatives - all mysteriously perfect despite their actual arrivals.
What really stunned me was discovering that Sandra had previously fired two other single mothers for attendance violations - both after they had requested schedule accommodations for childcare issues.
I submitted a complaint to corporate with screenshots of the time clock records I'd saved showing Brian's attendance pattern.
Two weeks later, the regional director called me personally. They'd investigated and found Sandra had been falsifying time records for three different employees - all relatives she'd helped hire.
I got my job back with backpay and an apology. Sandra was terminated.