A woman is fighting to regain her job after she was brutally fired over the phone while she was in labor.
Grace Fosu from Accra, Ghana, was in labor when she received a call from her employer who told her that she was getting fired.
“I am in labor and you are calling me to tell me this, do you want me to die?” the 33-year-old former member of Ghana National Fire Service recalled telling her boss. “For the dismissal, I went through hell … I was very, very sad because I wasn’t expecting this.”
While Grace gave birth to a healthy baby girl, she couldn’t help but feel grief after losing her job. Since the dreadful call that took place in 2014, the courageous mother has been fighting not only to reclaim her position but also to counter discrimination against women.
Weeks after Grace’s daughter was born, the firefighter was summoned by her boss who handed over a formal dismissal letter to Fosu’s husband and called her pregnancy an “offense.”
“When I opened the letter, I was confused. Then my body started shaking so I tried to control myself and my wife too,” Grace’s 38-year-old husband, Abubakari, said. He also claimed that the officials completely ignored his wife and only talked to him.
According to the letter, the 33-year-old firefighter violated the “Regulation 33 clause (6) of the Ghana National Fire Service Conditions of Service” which forbids female firefighters to get pregnant during the first 3 years of employment.
While Fosu’s fellow coworkers didn’t get fired despite getting pregnant, Grace did and she believes she was selectively targeted because she stood up to a senior officer who asked her for sex.
Following her dismissal, the mother finally gathered up the courage to speak out about the matters involving sexual assaults at work and discrimination against women.
“Quite a number of similar cases had come from the uniformed services of Ghana,” Joseph Whittal, CHRAJ commissioner, told CNN.
According to Fosu, who is now on a mission to reclaim her position and stand up for all discriminated women by taking legal action, the bold move left her contemplating suicide.
After losing one source of income, Grace and her husband were forced to move into a one-bedroom apartment in a slum. They have also been struggling to buy food and provide for their baby ever since she was fired.
Despite all these struggles, the couple is determined not to give up and help not only themselves but also other women who are trapped in similar situations.
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