Pregnancy Discrimination at work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My guess is that, since you mention talking with the owner of your company, and you sound very immature and naive, you are working for a small company for which FMLA does not apply. I don't know what legal recourse you have, but it sounds like you may want to consult an employment attorney.

The federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act applies to everybody -- including to employers too small for FMLA, and to employees who sound very immature and naïve.

An employer cannot refuse to hire a woman because of her pregnancy related condition as long as she is able to perform the major functions of her job. An employer cannot refuse to hire her because of its prejudices against pregnant workers or because of the prejudices of co-workers, clients, or customers. The PDA also forbids discrimination based on pregnancy when it comes to any other aspect of employment, including pay, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, fringe benefits, firing, and any other term or condition of employment.

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-preg.cfm

[Anonymous]

This is definitely not subtle discrimination...definitely document everything. Dates, times, who was in the meeting. Many phones have a sound recorder- try to start recording any future conversations going forward discretely (if you are in DC or Virginia it's one party consent- so only you have to approve of recording conversations that involve you). Contact a lawyer OR reach out to EEOC. Below is information on how to start a claim. First step is meeting with them to discuss what's happened.

http://www.eeoc.gov/employees/charge.cfm

So sorry this is happening to you. These kinds of situations are so stressful. I had a promotion suddenly evaporate days after I told my manager about my pregnancy due to "performance issues for the past 4 months" despite discussing the promotion the week before with her and everything being fine. It was totally ridiculous. Luckily I was able to successfully transfer within my company to a higher position working with a more understanding and family friendly team.

Did you give your boss permission to disclose your pregnancy? Medical issues are supposed to be confidential.... Anyways this sucks and I'm so sorry. Reach out to the EEOC and just try to ride it out at work for now.

[Anonymous]

First of all, congratulations to you. Hoping for a healthy pregnancy and birth of your twins.

I totally sympathize - I too went through pregnancy discrimination. I was shocked because my former boss has children and is an attorney. Boss have known that actions were egregious and screamed lawsuit.

I was lucky that under FMLA that I was entitled to 12 weeks - former boss demanded I return after 6 weeks. Former boss tired the temp while I was out on maternity leave for my position and gave me a new job when I came back. There was verbal abuse upon my return and former boss sabotaged my work to build up a case against to HR. However, unlike your situation, HR backed me because my previous 5 performance reviews showed exceed expectation. But I knew I was in a bad situation so I started searching for a job when baby was 4 months old and started another position when baby was 10 months old and have been thriving since!

I know the next few working months will be hard especially with a a verbally abusive manager. I know, because I too experienced months of abuse. But if you may need the FMLA and paid leave, be strong. But during this time maybe try to brush on your resume so that you can send when babies are 3-4 months old? Or you can maybe search now and negotiate start date for when babies are 3-4 months old?

Wanted to give you some encouragement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A large company in which the owner meets with individual employees and their managers about role changes? Why would the owner of a large company be involved in a lateral move?

How many employees are there?

Not OP but when the owner of the company I work for was still here I could see him getting involved with this stuff in certain situations ... we have about 400 employees so not small and certainly qualify for FMLA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you need to keep your personal life personal and your professional life separate from that. You don't tell your supervisor personal information "as friends." You certainly should know better than to give notice of a pregnancy before 13 weeks, especially if you've been dealing with IF.

My guess is that, since you mention talking with the owner of your company, and you sound very immature and naive, you are working for a small company for which FMLA does not apply. I don't know what legal recourse you have, but it sounds like you may want to consult an employment attorney.

BTW, the comptroller is already not in your court, so documenting what she told you and informing the owner will not make you an "enemy" -- not to mention that imaging your coworkers as "friends" or "enemies" is not a good way to interact professionally in an office setting.

+10000

[Anonymous]

OP:

Step 1: write down everything that has happened - conversations, names dates, locations, everything you can remember.

Step 2: take this information to an attorney who specializes in these types of matters ASAP. Ask for an estimate of how much to advise you on how to proceed. They may help you write an email or letter describing your treatment to your boss, so that this gets documented officially. May also help you craft an "ask" - i.e. Confirmation of no change in status, pay, job title. I would not tell anyone you are consulting an atty yet - let your atty advise you on best approach. Goal at this stage should be to still give them an opportunity to fix this, while protecting you from future discrimination. Litigation should be your final option as it is expensive and costly, and any atty who advises you to jump to that is not acting in your best interests.

3. While this is going on be a perfect employee. Do not put anything personal on your work email, arrive and depart precisely on time, remain scrupulously professional in all interactions. They may be looking for excuses to give you a bad performance review, so try not to give them any ammunition.

[Anonymous]

This is awful. I am so sorry, OP. this absolutely sounds like blatant discrimination.

In addition to documenting everything and consulting an employment attorney about this (which you should do ASAP and keep it quiet!!), you should also refrain from further discussions about your pregnancy at work. Maybe you already have. If anyone asks, just say "things are fine" or something to that effect. Do not volunteer info to anyone at your office.

Also, if further comments are made to you about how your pregnancy and motherhood will adversely impact your job, consider saying something like "I don't see why it would be an issue" in a nice, non-defensive way. Just to let them know you disagree with their statements. If you are not responding at all or just get upset and walk away when they say these things, then they can say that you're complicit and going along with how they are shuffling you around. Also, it's not giving them the opportunity to correct the situation because you're not telling them you disagree. Just be matter-of-fact about it. Of course you can still do your job. You're pregnant for god's sake, not terminally ill.

GL!

[Anonymous]

Are the PPs attorneys? I don't think you need to consult an attorney at this stage, but you might want to call the EEOC and/or the DC Office of Human Rights (if you're in DC).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you need to keep your personal life personal and your professional life separate from that. You don't tell your supervisor personal information "as friends." You certainly should know better than to give notice of a pregnancy before 13 weeks, especially if you've been dealing with IF.

My guess is that, since you mention talking with the owner of your company, and you sound very immature and naive, you are working for a small company for which FMLA does not apply. I don't know what legal recourse you have, but it sounds like you may want to consult an employment attorney.

BTW, the comptroller is already not in your court, so documenting what she told you and informing the owner will not make you an "enemy" -- not to mention that imaging your coworkers as "friends" or "enemies" is not a good way to interact professionally in an office setting.

Whether she's "very immature and naive", blurred the lines between personal and professional at work, or "should know better" than to give early notice of pregnancy is beside the point. They would've found out soon enough anyway when she starts to show and the discrimination would've started at that time. The fact remains that they did know she was pregnant and the disparate treatment began. Doesn't matter if she's 5 weeks or 30 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you need to keep your personal life personal and your professional life separate from that. You don't tell your supervisor personal information "as friends." You certainly should know better than to give notice of a pregnancy before 13 weeks, especially if you've been dealing with IF.

My guess is that, since you mention talking with the owner of your company, and you sound very immature and naive, you are working for a small company for which FMLA does not apply. I don't know what legal recourse you have, but it sounds like you may want to consult an employment attorney.

BTW, the comptroller is already not in your court, so documenting what she told you and informing the owner will not make you an "enemy" -- not to mention that imaging your coworkers as "friends" or "enemies" is not a good way to interact professionally in an office setting.

Whether she's "very immature and naive", blurred the lines between personal and professional at work, or "should know better" than to give early notice of pregnancy is beside the point. They would've found out soon enough anyway when she starts to show and the discrimination would've started at that time. The fact remains that they did know she was pregnant and the disparate treatment began. Doesn't matter if she's 5 weeks or 30 weeks.

AH-DOY. Which is why the bolded is in my post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the PPs attorneys? I don't think you need to consult an attorney at this stage, but you might want to call the EEOC and/or the DC Office of Human Rights (if you're in DC).

I am one of the PPs, and yes, I am an attorney. I think OP certainly needs to consult an attorney to get an idea of what her next steps need to be and how to protect herself while she still has her job! There are certain prerequisites for bringing an employment discrimination suit, and there are certain actions on her part that could be fatal to her ability to bring a claim if it gets to that point. If I was OP, I would want to have an understanding of how that works and what my options are. She can still call the EEOC and/or DC counterpart, but she needs to talk with an employment attorney, too.

[Anonymous]

OP here- Thank you all for the feedback. I hope that I didnt sound immature. This is my first pregnancy, and I recognize now that I should have kept it under wraps for as long as possible.

I appreciate all of the advice. I am due in January, so a large part of me wants to just stick it out until then. I feel like filing a suit would be very time intensive and the last thing I need is more animosity at work in the next six months. With a twin pregnancy, I really need to prepare for the unexpected, so I need to keep my FMLA in place, and even if my pay changes, its still an income. Pregnancy is stressful enough, I can't imagine seeking new employment, especially because I am already showing. I just wanted to know my options, and they seem pretty slim. Filing a suit means time off work, in addition to OB appointments and scans... I just dont see how it would be beneficial to us at this time.

All I can do at this point is see what happens.

Thank you for the advice.

[Anonymous]

NP- just FYI. It was hard for me to keep my IVF treatments under wraps at work. It required time off and eventually I needed management to understand why is needed to be away. I'm so sorry are dealing with this OP. This makes me grateful for my workplace. I'm 5 months. This is not how it's supposed to be.

[Anonymous]

So sorry - that's so stressful. I just told my boss that I was pregnant and then a week later was given notice that they were going to replace me due to the presumption that I wouldn't be working for very much longer. I'm only 19 weeks. I work for a small office of about 10 people, so you basically have no rights if they less than 50 employees.
Sucks

[Anonymous]

I know two people with cases of pregnancy discrimination that ended very differently. One was fired within two weeks of disclosing that she was pregnant (at 4 or 5 months). The case was so cut and dry she easily won a settlement which has allowed her stay at home with her baby for a year.

The other was my sister. She worked for a religious organization that disagreed with her decision to do IVF as a single woman. She had to share because of the number of appointments, and from then on they slowly and systematically marginalized her, and eventually fired her. However they were able to document that she had missed work, etc. and also that it wasn't necessarily tied to the pregnancy because it wasn't immediately after her sharing the news. She got just enough $ to cover her bills and basically ended up where she started.

This is all to say that I agree with the PPs that you should document especially the timing of this behavior because you need to link the cause and result. It looks like you have a pretty clear cut case. Get a good lawyer and good luck, and I'm also sorry you have to deal with this.