Pregnancy can be an exciting and also frightening time for a woman. If this is her first pregnancy, she may not know what to expect. Even those who have had children before can develop complications during subsequent pregnancies that did not affect them previously.
Many women want to continue working through as much of their pregnancies as possible. After all, taking care of a baby can be incredibly expensive. Technically, federal statutes and Minnesota regulations protect the rights of pregnant women in the workplace.
Unfortunately, discrimination during pregnancy is still relatively common. The three types of pregnancy discrimination below occur frequently and can be devastating for an expectant mother.
Denied accommodation requests
In the early stages of pregnancy, women may need few accommodations other than additional bathroom breaks if they have morning sickness issues. However, as pregnancy progresses, they may require certain accommodations from their employers.
For example, they may need to limit how much they lift or arrange to work from home because they require bed rest. Employers can usually accommodate the medical restrictions of expectant mothers. Some refuse to do so as a way of forcing the woman to leave her job or justifying firing her because she no longer meets performance metrics.
Refusing paid or unpaid leave requests
Some companies have maternity leave policies that allow women to take time away from their jobs with partial or full pay for a certain number of weeks. Many other businesses are subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which entitles new mothers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during pregnancy and after the birth of a child.
Companies should do their best to accommodate a new mother’s need for leave after the birth of her child or when pregnancy complications arise. Refusing to give a woman time off or punishing her for requesting FMLA leave is a common form of discrimination.
Allowing a hostile work environment to develop
Coworkers and supervisors can become abusive toward pregnant women. Other female employees may make snide remarks about a woman’s appearance or her romantic circumstances. Male coworkers may make unsavory and tasteless jokes at her expense that make her feel uncomfortable or even unsafe in the workplace.
Such conduct can create a hostile work environment when it is pervasive and/or severe. If a company does not quickly act to remedy the situation by retraining or disciplining those who abuse a pregnant worker, then the failure to prevent harassment might constitute discrimination.
Pregnant women treated unfairly by their employers may have grounds for an employment discrimination lawsuit. Holding companies accountable for violating the laws protecting pregnant women can potentially compensate women harmed by bad company policies and force organizations to reconsider how they treat their workers.
