Issue Description:
When a Sim in the Freelancer career becomes pregnant, they receive a notification stating they can take time off due to pregnancy. However, selecting this option has no effect. The Freelancer career lacks any mechanism for taking paid time off or pausing active gigs, rendering the pregnancy leave notification non-functional.
Expected Behavior:
Pregnant Sims in the Freelancer career should be able to take paid time off, similar to traditional careers. According to game mechanics, family leave allows Sims to take time off work with pay, mimicking real-world parental leave policies . This period allows them to prepare for the baby without career obligations, and Sims continue to receive regular pay during this leave .
Steps to Reproduce:
- Have a Sim join the Freelancer career (any track: Programmer, Writer, Artist, etc.).
- Have the Sim become pregnant (via "Try for Baby" interaction).
- Wait for the pregnancy to progress and the "Your Sim can now take family leave" notification to appear .
- Attempt to take the offered leave.
- Observe the effect on the Sim's Freelancer career and active gigs.
Actual Result:
- The pregnancy leave notification appears, but taking it has no effect.
- The Freelancer career has no vacation day system or ability to pause active gigs.
- Unlike traditional careers where Sims can take paid time off without career penalties, Freelancers cannot pause their work .
Additional Notes:
- This appears to be an incompatibility between the Freelancer career system and the pregnancy leave system.
- The Freelancer career operates on a gig-by-gig basis rather than a standard work schedule .
- The pregnancy leave system was restored to pre-July 2025 functionality in a patch that addressed pregnancy-related issues, but this did not resolve Freelancer incompatibility .
Impact:
Moderate. Pregnant Freelancer Sims receive misleading notifications about benefits they cannot actually use. This forces players to either continue working through pregnancy (ignoring the notification) or abandon active gigs without pay, unlike Sims in traditional careers who can take paid, penalty-free leave.
