Women shouldn’t
have to fear for their jobs when starting a family. But, we hear about pregnancy discrimination in the workplace all the time. Companies frequently do not abide by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 or the U.S. Department of Labor’s Family Medical Leave Act. Women are too often subject to unlawful actions made by employers because of pregnancy.
There are many different forms of pregnancy discrimination. The majority include: reassignment to a department out of your career path or a lower paying position, refusal of medical health care benefits that are available to other employees, or cutting your hours and pay during pregnancy.
Here are some things you should know about the laws protecting women, and the action you should take if you believe you have been discriminated against.
U.S. Department of Labor’s Family Medical Leave Act
Under this act, employers with 50 or more employees must give up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees that have worked for the company for at least 12 months and have clocked a minimum of 1,250 hours of service. The FMLA regulates leave of absences that are necessary for one of the following reasons:
- Childbirth and infant care of the employee’s newborn
- Adoption or foster care placement with the employee
- A serious health condition of an immediate family member that requires care
- A serious health condition of the employee
Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 provides guidelines that employees and employers must follow during pregnancy to ensure that there are no discriminatory actions.
- An employer cannot refuse to hire you because of your pregnancy as long as you can complete the functions of the job
- If you are temporarily incapable of completing the tasks of your job because of your pregnancy, your employer must modify tasks and assignments (as done with other temporarily disabled employees).
- You must be permitted to work as long as you can complete the functions of your job.
- If you are provided with health insurance by your employer, the insurance must cover pregnancy-related expenses as it would for other medical conditions
- When crediting seniority, vacation time, pay increases or other benefits, you must be treated the same as other temporarily disabled employees.
If you feel you have been discriminated against, take these steps:
- Document any discriminatory conversations or occurrences. Detail the time and place, as well as participants and witnesses.
- Continue to perform your tasks and assignments, but start documenting how well you are performing.
- Compile a record of previous performance reviews to keep as evidence.
- Consider contacting your human resources department to file a complaint, and document your complaint within your own files.
- Contact an attorney to discuss your options
To prove you have been discriminated against, you must fit this criteria:
- Be a member of a protected class (as a woman, you are protected)
- Meet the expectations of your job and your performance was up to par with your employer’s demands (this can be proven with your performance reviews, raises, promotions and your own documentation of such material)
- Be fired, demoted, passed over for a promotion, not hired for a position, or suffered any other form of adverse action.
- Be treated differently or less favorably than other employees with similar circumstances who were not a member of a protected class.
In court, your employer must provide a legitimate and non-discriminatory reason for the adverse action. You must show that the employer’s reason is a pre-text (a false reason used to conceal the discriminatory action). If you are able to prove their rationale is pre-textual, you have a chance of winning in front of a judge or jury.
Contact an attorney to discuss your circumstances and further explore your legal options.
