Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace
The state of California protects employees from a wide range of discrimination in the workplace. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the discrimination pregnant women experience so you know how to protect yourself in the event of discrimination.
Here’s what you need to know about pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.
Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace
Having a baby can be an amazing experience. Dealing with a workplace who discriminates against you or someone you love due to pregnancy, however, certainly isn’t, especially if you lose your job or are refused a job in the process.
Make no mistake: discriminating against a person on the basis of pregnancy is, in fact, a form of employment discrimination. As a worker or a prospective candidate, if you are negatively impacted by such discriminatory practices, you have options.
In this post, we’ll explain what exactly employment discrimination really is, how you can spot potential discrimination, and what you can do if you believe an employer treated you unfairly due to the fact that you are – or will be – pregnant.
What is Employment Discrimination?
Employment discrimination is defined as any discrimination on the basis of an inherent characteristic. It is specific to the workplace and/or hiring environment, and can be incredibly impactful to both current and prospective employees.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), discrimination in the workplace or hiring process happens in many forms. It is illegal for employers to discriminate against people for any of these reasons:
- Age
- Disability
- Equal Pay/Compensation
- Genetic Information
- Harassment
- National Origin
- Pregnancy
- Race/Color
- Religion
- Retaliation
- Sex
- Sexual Harassment
Employment discrimination can be highly intersectional. Someone who experiences one form of discrimination (such as race) is highly likely to experience other forms at the same time (such as religion or national origin). Minorities, women, and people who are disabled are also far more likely to experience discrimination than others.
Examples of Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace
Pregnancy discrimination happens whenever someone is treated poorly in the workplace as a direct result of their pregnancy. It can occur both during the hiring process (such as when an employer refuses to hire a pregnant woman) or afterward (such as when an employer fires someone on maternity leave for missed time).
Examples:
- Refusing to hire someone who is pregnant
- Firing someone for simply being pregnant
- Harassing someone because they are pregnant
- Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations
- Refusing to allow new mothers to pump on a schedule
- Refusing to promote someone due to pregnancy
- Refusing to allow a pregnant woman medically necessary time off
Pregnancy discrimination isn’t always immediately obvious, even to the victim. Instead, it often manifests in ways that are very subtle or even easily missed by the people most affected (such as when a pregnant person is laid off). This can make it extremely difficult to try in civil court.
Pregnancy Discrimination Laws in California
The laws that regulate pregnancy discrimination in the workplace vary depending on the size and volume of the business. For example, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) regulates discrimination in businesses with fewer than six employees. The EEOC, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulate discrimination in businesses with 15 or more employees.
For the purposes of these laws, pregnancy includes both being pregnant and any condition reasonably associated with pregnancy (such as giving birth, needing bedrest, or suffering from a pregnancy-related illness).
State and federal laws differ in how they approach pregnancy discrimination. For example, federal law may consider pregnancy discrimination a form of sex discrimination because only biological females can give birth. Or, it may consider the matter more directly, judging it as falling under The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. In rare cases, this may technically lead to two offenses instead of one.
California also has state-based protections for pregnant people in the workplace. These protections do not supersede federal requirements but simply add to them to provide a higher level of protection.
The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) demands that employers of 50 or more people provide job-protected leave when having or adopting a child, or when suffering from a medical condition as a result of carrying a child.
The New Parent Leave Act (NPLA) states that employers of 20 people or more must provide access to job-protected leave when an employee is adopting, giving birth to a child, having a child with a spouse, or placing a child for adoption.
When Can Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace Happen?
Protection against pregnancy discrimination isn’t only available to current employees of a business. In fact, pregnancy discrimination can occur at any time throughout the lifecycle of an employee, up to and including:
- Application
- Interviewing
- Hiring
- Firing
- Promotion
- Transfer
- Post-employment
If you, at any point in your relationship with a company, believe you are being discriminated against solely due to pregnancy (now or in the future), you have rights, including the right to sue for compensation. However, these cases can be notoriously complex, and it is rarely wise to forge forward on your own. Instead, you should hire an employment discrimination attorney who specializes in pregnancy to guide you.
Why You Need A Pregnancy Discrimination Attorney
Businesses rarely own up to discrimination right away, even if you have obvious proof it occurred. At best, they will take down your information and forward it to their legal team or lawyer for review. This often results in the employer searching for “plausible deniability” in order to avoid responsibility.
For example, an employer may try to claim that they didn’t fire someone because they were pregnant – they fired them due to poor attendance or poor performance instead. Proving the issue was a cause for discrimination is extremely difficult.
A pregnancy discrimination attorney knows how to investigate the particulars of your case and find the right evidence to support your claim. Using the previous example of someone who is fired due to poor attendance during pregnancy, a lawyer might find evidence that the missed time was for ultrasounds, testing, or pregnancy-related illness. This is still a form of discrimination.
Cases where you are denied a job for being pregnant are even more complicated. After all, the employer can easily state that you weren’t hired because someone else more appropriate for the role was hired instead. Without having a lawyer to subpoena the employer to provide proof or evidence of such claims, you may never know whether they’re telling you the truth.
Remember that in California, the “burden of proof” lies on the plaintiff – meaning it’s up to you to prove discrimination occurred using clear and convincing evidence. A pregnancy discrimination lawyer can help you ensure your rights and your evidence are presented convincingly and without bias when it comes time for court. You have the right to hold your employer responsible when they are negligent.
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