What can an employee do if she was fired after informing the employer that she was pregnant?
It is illegal to discriminate against pregnancy. There are many federal laws and state laws that prohibit discrimination based on pregnancy, child birth or related medical conditions. If a company employees fifteen or more people, then federal laws apply. An employer may show discrimination against a pregnant employee in many ways. Few of them are: not hiring a pregnant applicant, terminating or demoting a pregnant employee, not giving the employee the same or similar job when she returns from pregnancy related leave and treating the pregnant employee differently than other employees. One may sue the employer for wrongful termination and/or pregnancy discrimination if the employer has subjected an employee to any of the above actions. However, one may be required to prove that the employer subjected the employee to such acts not because of work or performance related issues, but due to pregnancy discrimination. One may find it difficult to prove this. What can one do if she feels that she is being discriminated upon due to pregnancy?
It would be better for this employee to follow the chain of command. One may consider speaking to a supervisor regarding the discrimination if it is a co-worker who is doing this. However, if it is the supervisor who is subjecting the employee to discrimination, then one may consider approaching the executive director or someone in the senior management. A complaint of pregnancy discrimination may be filed at the local EEOC office if the issue is not addressed internally by the company. A company in Alabama has less than fifteen employees. Can an employee of this company file a claim for pregnancy discrimination with the EEOC?
Federal law applies to companies that employee fifteen or more people. An employee working in a company with less than fifteen employees may not be able to file a pregnancy discrimination claim with the EEOC. Would a pregnant lady be eligible to receive disability benefits if she is unemployed?
If a person is unable to work full time due to any kind of disability, he/she may be eligible for benefits under the State Disability Insurance Benefits. One would be eligible to receive state disability benefits if she is disabled due to pregnancy. Though she is not employed presently, she should be searching for a job during the period she is filing for this benefit. She may not be eligible for the benefits if she informs that she is taking time off or is out of town to visit family, etc. A company has mandated that all employees should have a certain vaccine to be employed. However, due to pregnancy, an employee is not able to take the vaccine. Would it be considered as discrimination is this employee is fired for not taking the vaccine?
A company would not generally fire an employee for not taking a vaccine during pregnancy for medical reasons as quite a few vaccines are not safe to take during pregnancy. If a company does fire the employee, then it may be termed as a form of discrimination and one may file a complaint with the local EEOC. If the health of the baby would be affected due to the employee taking the vaccine, then the company should not single out such an employee. If a doctor has issued a note to indicate that not taking the vaccine would not impact the employee’s ability to work, but would have an impact on the health of the mother and/or the baby; then the company should consider it. One may seek the services of an employment lawyer if one is subjected to workplace discrimination due to this or is fired for filing a complaint with the EEOC. It is difficult for one to prove that one is subjected to discrimination at work due to pregnancy. This can be an unsettling experience. Therefore, it would be wise to ask an employment lawyer if one is faced with such a situation.
Related Articles -
pregnancy discrimination act, pregnancy discrimination, pregnancy discrimination in the workplace, pregnancy discrimination at work, pregnancy discri,
|
