Peaceful Revolution: Another Blow to Women

In January, President Obama made the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act the first bill he signed into law, reversing the effects of a devastating Supreme Court decision in the fair pay case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear.  Just four months later, we're faced with another deeply disappointing Supreme Court ruling that forces women to pay a high price today because their employers discriminated yesterday.   

This week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen dealt a serious and painful blow to working women and the families who rely on their retirement benefits. The Court sided against a group of women who sued their former employer, AT&T Corp., for excluding time spent on pregnancy leave from their retirement benefits. 

These women faced discrimination prior to enactment of the Pregnancy
Discrimination Act of 1978, but the Court's ruling allows this discrimination
to penalize them and their families forever.   

The Hulteen ruling affects a limited number of people -- women who worked at companies offering retirement benefits, and took pregnancy leave before the Pregnancy Discrimination Act became law. It would be easy to ignore them -- easy, but terribly wrong.  We are all harmed when our highest court condones blatant discrimination, no matter when it occurred.  This ruling sends a terrible message about whether discrimination will bring penalties and costs, and whether the courts will address the ongoing effects of prior discrimination.  

In terms of practical impact, it couldn't come at a worse time.  In today's grim economic climate, women and their families cannot afford to see their retirement benefits kept lower by discriminatory workplace policies that should have been remedied decades ago.   

We need a Court that stands firm for equal rights, when we have anti-discrimination laws in place as well as when we don't. Pregnancy discrimination claims are skyrocketing in the U.S. right now, 30 years after the Pregnancy Discrimination Act became law.  In 2007, working women in the U.S. filed 65 percent more complaints of pregnancy discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) than they filed in 1992.  The National Partnership for Women & Families reviewed a sampling of these claims and found that complaints filed by women of color and those working in industries dominated by female workers fueled much of this sharp increase.  We also found that race and ethnicity appear to play a significant role in the rise of pregnancy discrimination complaints.  

It's truly sobering that, 30 years after our nation outlawed discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, so many women -- and women of color in particular -- are experiencing it in such a serious way that they file a complaint with the EEOC.   

It may be even more sobering that, at this time when negative stereotypes about pregnant women clearly persist, we have a Supreme Court that doesn't stand firm for equal rights and equal opportunity.   

It's a good reminder of what's at stake with the Supreme Court nomination President Obama is about to make. 

A Peaceful Revolution is a blog about innovative ideas to strengthen America's families through public policies, business practices, and cultural change. Done in collaboration with MomsRising.org, read a new post here each week.

Comments

[ditchdigger]

a women who chooses to become a mother. should not be penalized. i would rethink this.i worked 1 year for the railroad,and was drafted in 69.i was given credit for the 2 years i had in the service. this is wrong.

[singermuse]

It is an unfortunate fact that the worst business decision a woman can make is to become a mother.
In the working world, becoming a mother is a one way ticket to sideways or even downward mobility.
Women who become mothers do not go up for promotions, they just don't as a rule, even though there may be the very rare exception. Mothers are seen by employers as a liability.­..they're going to need time off for their families and that means time away from the job..until this attitude changes, we cannot hope to see REAL change in the workplace with regards to women.

[Bethab]

I don't mean to start a fight, but don't mothers (and fathers) "need time off for their families" and doesn't that "mean time away from the job" that is not required by those without children?