Share Your Story: Have you faced pregnancy discrimination in the workplace?
Courts have created a pregnancy loophole that allows many employers to refuse to accommodate even simple requests to help workers maintain healthy pregnancies. Pregnant women have been fired because they asked to avoid heavy lifting, or to stay off ladders, or to sit on a stool instead of standing at a cash register all day. It happens a lot. Maybe it happened to you.
Did your employer refuse to make simple modifications that you needed because of your pregnancy? Did you lose your job? Were you forced to take unpaid leave? Or did you just decide to ignore your doctor's advice so you could keep working? Please tell us about it. Don't worry, we understand that this is personal. We will follow up with you if we are interested in sharing your story with Members of Congress, press, etc.
If you would rather communicate your story with us privately, please email us at info@nwlc.org.
Please note: The views expressed in the stories below are those of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the National Women's Law Center. All statements of fact in these stories have been provided by the individual authors, and the National Women's Law Center cannot and does not vouch for their accuracy. The Center will compile the stories and may use them, in whole or in part, in our advocacy efforts.
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Your Stories
J.GARCIA
Rancho cucamonga, Ca, Case records technician
I am 7pregnant weeks prenant with my third child. I informed my immediate supervisor as soon as I found out, I was very excited ! She responded well. This is my second pregnancy in my office. My first pregnancy in this office, government office, was a nightmare. Immediately after submitting my light duty request, my physical duties were increased. We have a file room the size of a football field. Files range in weight from 2lbs to 25lbs. We also have alot of boxes with discharged files. I was the only female who received extra file room duties and there was another pregnant employee. She did not submit her light duty because she was a new hire wbo feared they would fire her. I questioned my increased duties, but got no where, the mamger stated he was putting me where I was needed. I complied. Then I was denied overtime based on light duty alone. The union and i fought, we won. Then they denied payment of overtime if worked only sick leave re-embersment, union and I fought we won. There were happening between union and my Administrator that resulted in a PERB hearing against my employer from the union. I was subpoenaed to testify and did. By this time my son was almost a year. The following month, they attempted to dock ny pay for calling in 1and day sick. That is now in arbitration. Now, at 7 weeks pregnant my duties in the file room are incresed once again, when questioned they stated they can not show favortism as they could be sued.....??? I have yet to submit any documents for accomidations or light duty. I see the Dr. In three weeks, but fear upsets to myself. I cry so hard i cant breathe at the thought of going through this again. What can I do? ? I do not want to over react. I am very capable of performing all my duties w/o help other than the file room extras. The shelves are 81/2 feet tall and require constant use of step stools and bending to ground level as well. It is very uncomfortable when I get big. Union is aware but I dont want to fuel a fire I can extinguish.
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Lea Ogozelec
Roswell, Georgia, Retired educator
Years ago...in 1980, to be precise...I was one of the first female Paramedics at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. When I became pregnant and my supervisor, a male, found out about it he immediately 'advised' me that I was sure to lose my baby should I continue to work. When I told him that my obstetrician had been the Chief Resident at Grady and knew exactly what my duties were and said that I could continue as long as I felt comfortable, he reinterated that I was sure to lose my baby should I continue. One afternoon in my 5th month of the pregnancy I stepped down from the back of the ambulance and got a uterine cramp which was quite a common occurance as the baby was indeed growing. I leaned over for about 10 seconds, stood up and went on with my duties. Unfortunately, my supervisor had seen the incident and called me aside to tell me that he was so very concerned about me that he was taking me off the ambulance for the remainder of my pregnancy. I was reassigned to work as a nursing assistant in a clinic inside the hospital. As I had a degree as an Emergency Medical Specialist, I was paid at a much higher scale than I was when I was forced to work as a nursing assistant. As hard as I tried there seemed to be nothing I could do about my situation.I contacted the EEOC and was told that since I was the first in my profession at the hospital to get pregnant there was no precident and until someone else got pregnant and was permitted to work longer than I was there was nothing I could do about it.I never returned to work at Grady after my pregnancy...even though I truly loved my job...because I felt they had treated me so poorly!
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Paula
, Colorado,
Alison. Your employer has an obligation to provide a work environment free from sexual harrassmment. What that man is doing IS sexual harassment and violates Title IX laws. Please let him know that unless that harrassment stops you will go straight to HR and file a Title IX complaint. Or if you need to at this point, go straight to HR and let them know what is going on. That is what there are there for.
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Paula
, Colorado, Social Worker but in this scenario a part-time bartender
I am a full time professional who was working part time as a bartender for special events at an event center. I had been doing this for a couple of years and was a reliable and hard-working employee. When I became pregnant I could do most functions of the job except for lift the large ice-filled bins that we used to ice down the drinks and push the bars to set up. In a four hour shift this was part of setting up and took all of about 15 minthues. My coworkers happily acommodated me and beause I have a lot of pride I worked probably even harder doing the other set-up functions knowing that I couldn't do those two things. Regardless, we all worked as a team and pulled our weight in different ways and everything got done that needed to be done. The first thing that I noticed is that I stopped getting asked to work shifts. Prior to this I was able to get any shift that I wanted and now I wasn't even being offered the available shifts. The worst was during the biggest event of the year that pretty much requires every able-bodied employee to work and makes for a HUGE paycheck and tips (we are talking about a $400, 4 hour shift) I found myself cut out. We were told that everyone would be working the event but when I reviewed teh schedule and asked why I wasn't scheduled I was told that I would not be working that evening. This is a huge blow for someone who has always been recognized at work for being a hard-worker and team player. I was told that there were too many things that I wouldn't be able to do because of being pregnant. Having done this event the two previous years I know that this is not true. Aside from the two functions of setting up that I was unable to do I was able to bartend as well as anyone else there (and actually better than some of the new employees that still didn't know how to even uncork wine w/o leaving cork behind). I was given the consolation prize of working coat check which made me the grand total of $1 in tips before I voluntarily called it a night and at least allowed my co-workers who were regular coat-checkers the opportunity to earm more tips and not have to share with someone who was just placed there so as to avoid a complaint. In hindsight I do wish I had made a bigger issue of it. I think beause it was not my "regular" job but even moreso because I was so demoralized I just "let it go" But it's hard to completely let go of something like that, ya know?
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Anonymous K
Orange County, CA, Lab Associate
I work for a healthcare company. We just got bought out by a big corporation. (It's been a year) They are extremely strict about time off here before we got bought out and currently they became more strict. I totally understand because we were a fully staff up until a lot of people started to quit because of the transition and a lot of different people kept on calling in sick. Anyway, I am currently a month away from my due date. I am a semi active person and my job requires a lot of walking, getting up and down, sitting, and some lifting (not too much heavy lifting). Anyway, I find that my pregnancy gave me symptoms like back pain, headaches, nausea, and feet swelling (when I'm on my feet too long).My lead is pretty cool. Ever since I became pregnant she has helped a lot by putting me on easier job tasks and my co workers helped me out when I needed it. However, the task she gave me still required me to get up and down a lot. Also, if its not busy I would still have to keep myself occupied and help with other tasks which required me to walk and be on my feet. Which all causes me to get severe back pain, and my feet will start to swell. I have to admit the first 4 hours are easy but the rest of the time it can get pretty tough. They say every pregnancy is different.Anyway, last week I asked for a doctors note to stay home until my back feels better because lately my backache has been getting worse. I don't want to go on maternity leave yet because I want more time with my baby after he/she is born. Also, my doctor hasn't offered me to go on diability because I don't even think its that bad to the point where I should be going on disability. I feel like I just need several days to help with my back ache. Not to mention, I pulled my butt muscle because during this time i've been trying to walk more. Anyway, to the point of my jibberish is that I know people at work are talking about me taking over a week off and my supervisor is probably unhappy with me because of this. I'm just really afraid that I will get fired when I return from my maternity leave. Also, i'm afraid my supervisor will like me less.I"m reallly a good worker and try my best. However, my supervisor is all about favoritsm. I like him as a person however as a supervisor I feel like he's the worst! I feel like the only thing he cares about is time off. He likes to call people into his office if they call out sick and fives them a hard time. I feel like this is so wrong. I hate that when I call out sick I would have to feel scared. Anyway i'm writing this anonymously. Hoping that after I return from my maturnity leave I will still be able to keep my job. Hoping that my supervisor doesn't try to find a reason to fire me. Hoping he will still look at me as an employee and not at how much i've called out sick due to my pregnancy.If I get fired, i will definately sue for something. I don't know much about laws however I do know that I do NOT want to get discriminated just because of my pregnancy.
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Alexandra W. Sipiora
, IL, student
I have a good friend who was terminated years ago after her pregnancy.
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Diana
, Maryland,
When I worked for The State of MD, at a psych facility I was in charge of watching inmates with horrific crimes, we had behavior emergencies almost 5-9 times a day, I was 5 months pregnant , my Director (whom had a miss carriage due to restraining an inmate) instructed me to go into a hostile environment where this inmate was trowing chairs and had already assaulted 5 employees that where sent to the hospital via ambulance, now she wanted me to put my unborn child into harms way! I had refused, and left work due to the stress she put me under. THANK GOD FOR UNIONS! When I contacted my Union rep, he came to the job site and requested for me to be transferred to a less restricted position or he was going to file suit, due to me being disabled due to my pregnancy, and I had a Dr. note on file. with my restrictions. They transferred me to a desk job, I worked for about three more week and went out on maternity leave with PAY due to my wonderful co-workers who donated employee to employee leave, this allowed me to stay home and take care of myself and when my child was born I was able to say home for 5 months with PAY! I was and still is truly thankful to my co-workers and for my UNION! I always wonder what would of happened to me if I didn't have a Union to back myself or my fellow co workers up. With all the stories I have read, it made me sick to my stomach that us woman have to go through something like this at such a joyful time in our lives. We have to fight to get our rights! We have to fight to get respect on the job! I encourage everyone to contact your congressman/woman and fight to get bills sponsored and signed into laws in your state, if you have a union get involved! If we stand and fight in numbers we will succeed!God bless and good luck to everyone!
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SMB
, MI,
When I started working for a temp agency as a permanent employee years ago, I worked under 2 different managers/owners. One was very flexible about things, the other nitpicked everything I did. When I had to take physical therapy for my carpal tunnel that resulted from a combination of too much computer keyboard work and a car accident, I found out that my one boss was taking notes on EVERYTHING I did. It like he was trying to keep a record on anything he could use to get my fired. My former coworker and I went to an attorney to see what our options were, but since bullying people at work is not a crime, it was pointless.Eventually, the stress from dealing with that stuff at work, along with some non-work-related problems, got so bad to where I had to seek out psychotherapy. Funny thing is that, after I made sure to mention about my depression and anxiety diagnoses, the "mean boss" backed off a lot, and eventually sold out his portion of the business and retired. After adjusting to the change in structure, the more laid-back boss realized belately that his former partner had made some very stupid business decisions that have cost the company money, and he decided to go without pay until things improved. It took several years before things improved sales-wise for me to get a long-overdue raise.The current laws in place do not do enough to protect workers. By the time one of the more extreme forms of discrimination take place, things have already went to hell.
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Liz Mitchell
Columbia, Missouri, Artist
Conversely, I worked at a place where I was hurt. It was a small "Mom n Pop" birding store where part of our sales included large bags of birdseed. My injury was ignored + I sought chiropractic + acupuncture on my own. I was told to limit my lifting. Another employee who was pregnant made a sign that she put in the door informing customers of her lifting limits. When I borrowed her sign I was sent home, laid off for a few weeks, then fired. My injuries healed by the time my coworker delivered. Her job was reserved for her. I had to file workman's comp just about covered the cost of the treatment and never covered lost wages during recovery or until I found other work. I agree that pregnant workers should not be abused. Neither, however, should other workers. We need to stand together. Otherwise employers will divide + conquer.
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Gennine
San Jose, California, Student
When I was pregnant I worked for Home Depot in the shipping & receiving department. When I notified my employer that I was pregnant they immediately pulled me from my position and put me in various sit-down positions with the exception of cashiering. The company policy was that cashiers could not sit down at any time, however there were some managers who allowed pregnant employees to sit when there were no customers.At one point when I was about 6 months pregnant, I was cashiering and there were no customers in line, so I sat down. I am a small women and my baby was huge, and I was prone to swelling ankles, which hurt. I appreciated being able to sit during slow moments. A new manager told me I could not sit and took the stool I was using. She said if I got a doctor note giving my physical limitations then she would allow me to use the stool. A couple of days later I provided her with the note and she used it against me. She said that since I can't perform the duties without sitting that I would not be able to continue to work and forced me on an early leave of absence. My doctor wouldn't sign the disability paperwork, so I could not collect disability payments during this time. I had no form of income until I went into labor when my doctor did sign the disability paperwork.I hired an attorney to protect my rights and I contacted the EEOC to make a complaint about the subject discrimination. They found that my complaint was justified and I was free to take the next steps in litigation, however it would not have been worth it as I was only making $8.50 per hour and the amount of money that I was unable to earn during the forced leave plus any award would not have been enough to cover attorney fees. When I was ready to go back to work for Home Depot they made a deal with me. In exchange for their relocating the manager who discrimiated against me to another store, an increase in pay and the same position that I had before I became pregnant if I agreed to drop the case, which I did.The entire ordeal could have been avoided had the company inlcuded a policy of fair treatment of pregnant employees, it wouldn't have cost them a dime more, and it would have been the morally correct thing to do.
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