Women who are discriminated against by their employers because they are either currently pregnant, plan to get pregnant in the future, or were previously pregnant, are all victims of pregnancy discrimination. According to Eric Sanders of The Sanders Firm, P.C., an expert in civil rights law in NYC, pregnancy discrimination in the workplace is really just another form of gender discrimination.
Because women can get pregnant and men cannot, women have a special and unique problem with respect to workplace discrimination. An employer who decides not to hire a woman because she might get pregnant is just as discriminatory as a supervisor who fires a woman after she announces that she is expecting.
From a legal standpoint, Sanders says pregnancy is looked at as a temporary disability. In most workplaces, however, employers look at a woman who becomes pregnant very different than a man who breaks his arm or sprains his ankle. Both disabilities can impact a person’s ability to work, and require a number of days or weeks at home; yet employers rarely look down upon men who are unable to work due to an unexpected, temporary disability.
Sanders says that many employers have the tendency to look at a woman who gets pregnant as someone who is going to cost a company money. Even once the woman returns from maternity leave, Sanders says, many supervisors are weary. Bosses are fearful that having an office full of new mothers is going to lead to a reduction in the amount of work that gets done, and an increase in people wanting to take days off to spend with their kids.
Based upon these stereotypes, some employers will treat their female employees differently than their male employees. As a professional practicing civil rights law in NYC, Sanders says that most employers know that it’s illegal to fire an employee for having a baby. Instead, some supervisors have subtle ways to get around the laws, such as changing a new mother’s working hours or requiring her to work late in the hopes that she will get fed up and quit, for example.
Additional changes that companies have been known to make to push pregnant employees out include changing company health insurance policies or making it more difficult to take time off. Sanders says that there are an endless number of things that people have done to try to get pregnant employees to quit, the majority of which are illegal in New York State.
Although it is somewhat rare for an employer to outright fire an employee for having a baby, it does not mean that the actions taken against a woman are not worthy of a discrimination lawsuit. For more information, Sanders recommends contacting a lawyer who specializes in the field of civil rights law in NYC for help.
This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.