There is an article in the Wall Street Journal by Sue Shellenbarger about Pregnancy Discrimination explaining that claims are up and pregnant women are shocked to learn they have very few rights.

“Pregnancy-bias complaints recorded by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission surged 14% last year to 5,587, up 40% from a decade ago and the biggest annual increase in 13 years.

The agency also received 20,400 pregnancy-bias inquiries at its call center last year, the center’s first full year of operation; that doesn’t include thousands more walk-ins asking about the same topic at fair-employment offices.

“I thought we were protected,” said an advertising executive during a recent gathering of 100 working mothers. “Then I find out we can be fired while we’re pregnant, employers can refuse to hire us — what exactly are our rights?”

While employers can indeed fire, lay off or refuse to hire pregnant women, they can’t single them out for worse treatment.

Many hotline callers also don’t realize they aren’t entitled by federal law to paid childbirth leave, says Melissa Josephs of Women Employed, an advocacy group that runs a hotline,” the article states.

The Family Medical Leave Act only guarantees 12 weeks of unpaid leave and only if they have over 50 employees. Many women use their disability insurance and vacation days to keep getting a paycheck for 6-8 weeks.

Both times I was pregnant I experienced pregnancy discrimination. The second time I was fired at 8 months after repeated comments about my pregnancy being inconvenient to them and losing their training investment. My final firable infraction? Placing labels on a newsletter I wrote for them crooked. What I could do about it? Nothing.

‘”Employers can’t justify adverse actions by using stereotypes, either, such as “now that you’re pregnant, the best thing for you to do is go raise your kid,” says Elizabeth Grossman, an EEOC regional attorney,”‘ says the article.

Oh, you mean like when my boss told me that No I couldn’t work from home, even though he allowed one male editor to work from his San Francisco home and then explained when I quit that he respected my decision to stay home with my baby cause he believed that was best.

It was shocking to me too how few rights pregnant women have against discrimination. Perhaps you too have been thinking you have more rights than you do?

What action can we take? Join MomsRising.org and join the Mother’s Movement to end pregnancy discrimination and expand the Family Medical Leave Act.

Here’s MY family values - Stop Sacrificing MOM!

Post from: Blisstree

Stop Sacrificing Mom!