Discrimination Against Pregnant Employees
By: SmithSEO | Posted: 03rd February 2010
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) is a law that prohibits all employers from discriminating pregnant employers or applicants. AS long as the employee is able to perform the requested tasks she is to be considered equal to all other employees in that position. Varying states and counties have additional laws that help protect against pregnancy discrimination.
Forms of Pregnancy Discrimination
• An employer deliberately refuses to hire a female applicant due to currently being pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the future. It is against the law for an employer to ask personal questions during the interview such as:
o Do you have any children?
o Are you planning to have any children within the next number of years?
o What is your marital status?
• A pregnant employee is denied the same level of health coverage or benefits as all other employees in that particular position.
• A pregnant employee is passed over for promotion or has been demoted after an employer has found out the employee is pregnant.
• The pregnant employee has been asked to take an immediate leave of absence or has been terminated from the company upon the employee telling their employer they are pregnant.
Employee Rights
Pregnant employees have the same rights as any other co-worker in the same position. Most employers have a human resources department where a pregnant employee can consult with someone regarding their rights. Some jobs have different guidelines for eligibility for paid leave, which can be expressed in a contract or company handbook.
• An employer cannot single out the pregnant employee with specialized tasks to establish their ability to perform the work adequately. The employer must allow the employee to work if they are able and treat them the same as any other employee.
• An employer cannot request the employee to perform personal or sexual favors to keep their job.
• An employer cannot threaten or bully a pregnant employee into resigning from their job.
• When the employee takes maternity leave the job is to be held open for them until they return or resign. The employee should be treated the same as if they were on a temporary disability leave.
• All employees have the right to speak with human resources, the personnel department, or the union in order to obtain all information related to their rights and the company's policies.
It is very common for female employees to become pregnant at one point or another. That is why the Pregnancy Discrimination Act is an important part of the workplace rules and regulations. All pregnant employees should be treated equal to their peers as long as they can do what is asked of them.
Additional Legal Pages : For more information on Pregnancy Discrimination.
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Tags: job, jobs, pda, marital status, co worker, human resources department, personal questions, health coverage