Pregnancy Discrimination And Accommodation Laws

6 ways employers can get it wrong

Employers are learning the hard way that those that violate pregnancy discrimination and accommodation laws may be hit with lawsuits, which could end up extremely costly in terms of time, money and resources, and cause tremendous damage to employee morale and the employer’s public image.

Making negative comments, involuntarily reassigning an employee based on health and safety concerns, refusing to hire a pregnant employee and failing to provide a reasonable pregnancy or lactation accommodation all may constitute unlawful conduct for which an employer may be held liable. 

When employees or applicants announce that they are expecting a baby, what will bring a bundle of joy to them may create a whole host of issues for the employer.

Here are six ways employers go wrong:

An employer may have doubts or concerns about a pregnant employee’s continued ability to work and the potential economic impact or disruption to the workplace. However, failure to hire a pregnant worker or new mother may also result in liability for the employer.

Questions to avoid asking an applicant include:
 

• Whether and when she intends to have children;
• How she will manage to work during her pregnancy; and
• How she will juggle the demands of the job with the demands of being a new mother.

Taking adverse action against an employee such as termination, demotion or a unilateral change in job duties, in response to an employee’s pregnancy, because she has requested an accommodation or because she has complained of retaliation by a supervisor or co-workers is blatantly illegal and a clear violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

The decision to take leave during or after pregnancy is the employee’s and the employee’s alone to make. However, an employer may not require a pregnant employee to take leave from her job for pregnancy-related reasons as long as she can perform her job. In addition, an employer may not refuse to provide leave as an accommodation and then terminate an employee when she is unable to return to work at the end of her leave.

It is critical for an employer to take all pregnancy-related accommodation requests seriously in order to reduce the risk of a complaint or a lawsuit. Employers providing light-duty positions to employees injured on the job must provide the same light-duty work to pregnant employees who are similarly unable to work.

It is essential to avoid treating pregnant women differently based on stereotypes about their ability or inability to work and perform their jobs and assumptions about their job capabilities or commitment. Avoid steering pregnant or caregiving employees into lower-paid and less prestigious positions with less opportunity for advancement.

Harassment of pregnant employees is against the law. Offensive jokes, stories, insults, threats and intimidation that interferes with a pregnant worker’s ability to do her job may create a hostile work environment.

Recommended Resources 
Interactive Report: Managing Pregnancy and Related Issues in the Workplace