When many people think of discrimination in the workplace, they may first consider race and gender discrimination. What they may not more fully consider is a form of gender discrimination relating to pregnancy. In fact, some California workers may have faced negative impacts to their jobs due to what employers perceived as pregnancy issues.
Unfortunately, pregnancy discrimination is a serious issue, and many women can give accounts of facing unfair treatment at their places of employment due to being pregnant. In fact, some individuals have even lost their jobs because of their pregnancies. One worker cried on shift after being yelled at by a customer and was soon fired for being “too emotional,” while another woman faced dismissal after looking to obtain information regarding maternity leave.
For the past four years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office in one city has received nearly 50 complaints annually in relation to pregnancy discrimination in the workplace. Additionally, many instances of this type of mistreatment do not get reported. Workers may not realize that their employers have acted illegally, or they may not know what steps to take in order to address their concerns.
If California residents feel that their employers are using pregnancy issues as reasons to treat them unfairly, they may want to find out more information on their legal options. In some cases, workers may have reason to take action in order to have the mistreatment rectified. Individuals interested in this type of information may wish to speak with knowledgeable employment law attorneys.
Source: nondoc.com, “Pregnancy discrimination: ‘People don’t realize it’s a problem’“, April 23, 2018