Pregnancy Discrimination Claims On The Rise, EEOC Reports

Pregnancy discrimination claims are on the rise, according to new data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In public hearing held Feb. 12, the commission reported that "53,865 charges alleging pregnancy discrimination" had been made over the past 10 fiscal years, amounting to "$150.5 million in monetary benefits for charging parties."

According to the Connecticut Law Tribune, apart from a dip in 2005, pregnancy discrimination claims increased 1 percent every year since 1997, when the EEOC began gathering data on those claims. Discrimination claims come from across industries and at every level of employment.

Pregnant workers and those who have recently given birth are protected under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which was passed in 1978 and amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to "prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy."

A 2008 report on increasing pregnancy discrimination claims by the Wall Street Journal cited "changing demographics and a new activism among mothers" as a source of the uptick, and pointed out that many employers were still confused about what protections the law provides.

It would appear that four years later, confusion about the law continues to persist among some businesses.

From the Connecticut Law Tribune:

"While employers are well-conditioned and comfortable with the notion that a pregnant employee may assert her leave rights under federal and/or state laws regarding maternity leave, many are not aware that the PDA gives more protections."

The article goes on to outline specific additional protections under the PDA and other federal laws, and points out that employers should also familiarize themselves with state law, which can "trigger legal protections beyond the federal law."

In February, HuffPost reported that $150,000 was awarded to a pregnant woman who was fired from a Milwaukee medical staffing company for taking maternity leave.

LOOK: Stories Of Pregnant Women Who Were Discriminated Against At Work

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Comments

[mdipary2004]

06:35 PM on 04/27/2012

I thought both mother and father could take maternity leave.

[ruburnt]

11:02 PM on 04/25/2012

I was fortunate...Pregnant and working at a temp agency. The Dental company that I worked for hired me 4 months pregnant...gave me unpaid maternity leave and I had my job when I returned to work....

[EdCorey1971]

03:37 PM on 04/25/2012

There was a lady on the job where I'm at...she was the supervisor of one of the warehouses. While she was on maternity leave the company demoted her and gave her some insignificant job to do by herself. She eventually quit and filed a complaint with the EEOC and it all ended in a settlement.

I had a conversations with one of the owners about the situation and he became angry that I sided with the ex employee. He thinking was that he didn't decrease her pay so the company should not have been punished. I was like..."but you placed her in a position where there was no room for advancement." That conversation went no where quick. He became upset with me so I dropped the whole thing. I swear, some of these employers are either stupid or they just don't give a F until they get caught.

[zevonia]

11:52 AM on 04/25/2012

"It would appear that four years later, confusion about the law continues to persist among some businesses."

Only because those businesses choose to be confused. They know the odds of an employee filing a claim are low. And those that do file a claim have to battle a govt bueauracy to get help.

[ema123]

02:58 PM on 04/25/2012

Huffpo seems just as confused with an example from Sidney Australia

[standup11]

10:46 AM on 04/25/2012

I am amazed the number of trolls and knuckle draggers commenting on this story. It seems conservatives don't want you to have birth control and abortions but they despise you when you become pregnant.

Employers today do not want you to miss work for any reason. Many want to eliminate paid sick days. They want you there, working through lunch too. An 8 hour day soon becomes 9, 10 hours a day or more. It's no surprise pregnancy discrimination claims are on the rise. I'm sure Repubs will try and take this option away soon. Bravo to forward thinking employers that are pro- family, provide day care, pregnancy leave and paid sick days.

[marianproletarian]

12:39 PM on 04/25/2012

Exactly, also why they hate unions.

[ILoveGreatDanes]

05:13 PM on 04/25/2012

OTOH, remember that the reason employers hire an employee is for them to WORK. The employee WORKS for the employer, and in return, the employer gives the employee compensation. An employee's family, childcare issues, sick children, parenting struggles, etc are not the employer's problem. When they interfere with the job excessively, the employer has the right to terminate the employee.

[davewill]

05:52 PM on 04/25/2012

Except that they DON'T in this case.

[cwebster]

12:58 AM on 04/26/2012

Happy employees are more productive. It's usually cheaper to retain good staff than keep rehiring.

[thewirah]

09:22 AM on 04/25/2012

That's the beauty and simplicty of capitalism. Why would you hire a woman when you can hire a man? Why would you hire some with a pre-existing condition when you can hire someone healthy and fire him if he gets sick? Woman should find rich healthy husbands who can provide for them during pregnancy. All the people who don't fit these criteria should live in trailers.

[Gennaro Paolillo]

10:10 AM on 04/25/2012

Your comment is moronic and also has nothing to do with capitalism. If you owned a landscaping business, would you hire someone with a pre-existing asthma condition, to run wheel barrels of mulch around a yard all day in 90 degree heat? Not every person is right for every job.

[thewirah]

10:37 AM on 04/25/2012

You missed the point. I never said a company should hire people unfit for the job. I wouldn't hire someone like you for an intellectual job for example.

[ema123]

02:59 PM on 04/25/2012

An asthma suffer is unlikely to even apply for such a job, so your comment is just as moronic

[marianproletarian]

12:42 PM on 04/25/2012

Yes, why would you hire a black when you could hire a white, and so on. Sadly, many do think this way.

[PaPa0828]

09:01 AM on 04/25/2012

This entire discussion is pathetic!! My heart aches for this country when children are reduced to dollars and cents! I have worked for over 40 years and the greatest reward I have ever received is the love of my grandchildren, not money. If I didn’t have children I wouldn't have grandchildren. NO ONE ON THEIR DEATHBED EVER REGRETS NOT WORKING MORE HOURS BUT MANY REGRET NOT HAVING CHILDREN. God people get a grip. Are we so materialistic that children should be sacrificed for money. God help this country and God help us all if we don’t stand up for families. Companies are owned and operated by people not machines. Act like a person that has a heart for God's sake.

[marianproletarian]

01:05 PM on 04/25/2012

Fan #1. Where are those good-old family values we hear so much about???

[Miss Peaches]

08:59 AM on 04/25/2012

Well what did you expect....we've been attacking the very laws that protect women, they feel like they can do anything they want now.

[SarahinVT]

08:58 AM on 04/25/2012

As a small business owner with a pregnant employee, I am appalled at the treatment of pregnant women in some workplaces. I understand how difficult it is to offer paid leave when we have to hire an additional person to perform the job of the individual out on maternity leave. But, if we don't support our employees, who will support us?

[marianproletarian]

12:44 PM on 04/25/2012

Wish more were like you.

[cagiorda]

08:49 AM on 04/25/2012

I am 35 weeks pregnant, still working until I deliver (my choice) and planning on taking the 12 wk maternity leave that my large company offers me. I even have the option of extending it to 6 months (the other 3 months being unpaid FMLA). I gotta tell you, even 35 weeks preg. (with my 2nd child) I continue to be more productive than some of my childless unmarried counterparts. The work I leave behind gets farmed out to several people, not just one, and any projects I was leading will be wrapped up before I leave. I have every intention of checking email and am happy to take calls WHILE I am out on leave. I've been incredibly accomodating, willing to work extra hours during my pregnancy to ensure things are wrapped up, backups trained to make the least negative impact on the dept. If you are prepared, you can do this seamlessly with as little disruption as possible.

[marianproletarian]

12:50 PM on 04/25/2012

I was the same way, worked up to the very end, took only 3 months off, but my work still screwed me over. They had me training my replacement while lying to me that my position (and promised promotion) would still be there when I got back (pretty stressful while pregnant). They did not return my calls those three months until a day before I was to return, and then they had 4 managers on conference call with me to intimidate me when they told me I was being moved to a "different position (with less money)." When I asked why this happened to me, they actually said "we thought you'd choose to be a stay at home mommy," as if I had that choice. Disgusting that this still happens. BTW, three of the four managers were women and my job is clerical.

[Andrea in the City]

01:51 PM on 04/26/2012

More power to you! Go super mom!!

And I currently have a woman on my team who is out on maternity leave and though she is not fully engaged in working she is still available via phone or email to answer questions regarding important decisions/jobs that are still happening even though she is not in the office.

[GOPisrightforareason]

08:37 AM on 04/25/2012

This is the real war on women...women that choose to be loving mothers instead of aborting their babies.are discriminated against

[dgaisior08]

09:12 AM on 04/25/2012

Actually, the war on women is beyond the scope of who is a mother and who is not.

It is terrible that women who choose to have an abortion are discriminated against, and it is also terrible that women who choose [there's that pesky word choose again] to be mothers are discriminated against. There should not be a right to discriminate over what one decides to do with their reproductive organs. That's a personal choice of the person who the organs happen to belong to.

I do think something needs to be done about this 'war on women' that has been spreading across our country. It saddens me that there are opinions that throw some women under the bus, like your comment, while holding others on a pedestal.

[kottkep]

09:15 AM on 04/25/2012

The war on Women is on multiple fronts. Attacks on equal pay and pregnancy leave on one side. And attacks on thier freedom to choose whether they want to be pregnant or not on the other.

Repressed if they do, scorned if they don't.

[debblack]

08:24 AM on 04/25/2012

I had been wondering about this. With all the extreme legislation being passed, asprotections for the unborn, laws that pretty much eliminate a woman's personhood and protection under the law, infavor of a fertilized egg, how long would it be until pregnancy itself is under attact in the work place? Employers always favored men in the past, because they could not get pregnant, and did not have the major responsibility for child care. Men are still paid more for the same work as a left over from that time. In my Grandmother's day, women were shamed if they went out in public, while pregnant, and certainly could not work. How long will it be before we see the conservatives undoing all the civil rights, protections for women in their reproductive years? How long until pregnancy shaming returns?

[bave]

08:09 AM on 04/25/2012

Everyone thinks of this from the side of the woman, not the business owner. Most of these are not mega-corporations that have a ton of employees that can juggle the shift. Instead they are small businesses where losing a person for 3-4 months can be a real difficult scenario, particularly if it coincides with an already short staffed business, or busy season etc. What is the small business owner supposed to do? Just suck it up and get pounded in the business? Or should they hire someone else? What if the someone else is better than the pregnant woman was?

That's the problem. Small businesses can't afford to just keep a job open and waiting. The same way they can't afford to just pay people when they are out of work.

[1dljones]

08:53 AM on 04/25/2012

They are called temp workers. If women are value in the work place then hire a temp worker to replace heer till she comes back.

[Gennaro Paolillo]

10:30 AM on 04/25/2012

Really? It's that easy? Does a temp need to be compensated for their work? Well then that means the small business owner is paying two salaries for one persons work. How about the cost of training a temp? Do you think there will be a slow down in daily production until the temp learns their role? For certain businesses it can be costly and contrary to popular belief, not every business owner is rolling in the dough.

[tosc]

10:08 AM on 04/25/2012

having a child is a Full Time job. If you already have a Full Time job, why would you choose to create another? Pregnancy is not a mistake any longer. You have alternatives to deter getting pregnant, vasectomys, birth control pill, condoms,...etc. IF I took on another FT job while already working at one...both employers would be questioning my ability and stamina to perform up to my contract agreement?....that includes the new baby who is the boss in the new FT position as parent.

[marianproletarian]

01:00 PM on 04/25/2012

Do you have children?

[jistinnkees]

07:55 AM on 04/25/2012

Again we are missing the point. Profit. Corporation are struggling to find buyers for their product, because their customers, we are tapped out. The way to meet next years budget is to cut the fat. Have people work longer, pay less in social or healthcare, and of course cut out employees that cost money. Then lobby government for corporate needs, tax breaks, anti union, and shove the debt to the voters. There is a point of civil unrest, you just need to look at third world countries and there political and social problems created by the need for corporate and political buddy system. And your a fool if you don't think its happening to us.

[Cynthia Dudley]

06:15 PM on 04/25/2012

The customer is tapped out because they keep getting fired and then have to invest heavily into finding new employment.

[brooce]

07:40 AM on 04/25/2012

Cant have it all. If you want to have children, make certain you can afford to stay home and raise your children. I dont understand why a person would want a child only to have another raise it.
Having a child and going to work means others will need to do your job when you are out so many days. No different than the welfare queens with 7 kids-both of you require others to raise, pay and work for you kids.
Cant have it all.

[Poicelle]

08:04 AM on 04/25/2012

Who could possibly afford that nowadays? So you suggest that getting pregnant and having a family is only for the rich?

None of the people here was looking for a handout - but even that isn't good enough for you. How dare these women WORK when they should be MOTHERING and AT HOME, where they belong?!?!

What year do you think this is?

[brooce]

09:03 AM on 04/25/2012

Why do you outsource the raising of your child to a minimum wage person? You dont outsource your job-you show up in person. Basically you are saying that its more important to care for your job than your kid! And the level of pay one is willing to care for over her kid is amazing. Like 50K a year and outsource your kid-unbelievable. And a job that is of so little importance, you can leave many times a month to care for a sick kid-that job isnt delivering a lot of self importance is it.
IMO a kid should not be outsourced.

[hungryblackcat]

08:28 AM on 04/25/2012

Well this is why the birth rate is continuing to drop and why there won't be a big enough generation in the future to fund medicare and SSI.

[brooce]

09:13 AM on 04/25/2012

Birth rate dropping-have you checked the abortion rates?