Laws Protecting Women from Pregnancy Discrimination

Under the prevailing laws, pregnant women should be provided with equal employment opportunity given that their condition is not affected by their job performance. Moreover, the tasks given to them should not endanger the life of the baby.

These provisions are clearly stated through the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), which is an amendment to the Title VII of the United States Constitution. Based on this act, employment discrimination is forbidden to be committed against pregnant women during childbearing, childbirth, and other conditions related to pregnancy.

This law applies to workers under companies with 15 or more employees including state, federal, local government offices, employment agencies, and labor organizations. The law is effective under the following processes of employment: 

• Health insurance – Pregnant employees should receive the same treatment just like regular employees. In line with this, they should be provided with the same insurance policies given to disabled workers.

• Pregnancy and Maternity leaves – A pregnant employee should be permitted to have leaves without the threat of termination.

• Hiring – Any employer is prohibited from rejecting applicants who were pregnant because of their present condition, as well as commit any discrimination based on their pregnancy. 

• Fringe – Pregnancy-related benefits should not be limited to married employees. These benefits should be offered to all female employees regardless of the rank and classification.

Pregnant employees who were harassed, discriminated, or wrongfully terminated because of their condition have the right to defend themselves as stated under existing federal and state laws. These employees are suggested to seek the legal assistance of a Los Angeles wrongful termination lawyer especially if the case occurred in California. 

California has been notorious for various employment violations and it is possible that many pregnant women have experienced maltreatment there. As it is, the huge population paves the way for abuse since authorities could not check the employment processes of many companies all at once. Fortunately, there are wrongful termination attorneys in the place who could help workers in asserting their rights. Lawyers have the capability to gather evidences and witnesses, which the client may have difficulty in doing due to her current state.

About Religious Discrimination According to Title VII via the U.S. EEOC

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that is responsible for protecting the rights of employees by implementing anti-discrimination laws. Particularly, it upholds one of the most important employment laws that currently govern the legal aspect of United State employment. That law is the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The said law protects specific classes of employees, from race, color, religions, sex or national origin, from employer discrimination. As such, an employer, according to Title VII is prohibited from discriminating against an individual because of his or her protected class in firing, hiring and other terms and conditions of employment such as promotion, salary raise, and the like. The focus of this article will be about the discrimination based on religion.

Aside from prohibiting discrimination against employees whose life revolves around their religious beliefs, Title VII also requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to them. Reasonable religious accommodation in employment law means workplace adjustments in which employees can practice their religion freely and without bias.

Here are some examples of reasonable religious accommodation:

• Providing a flexible schedule; 
• Giving swaps or voluntary substitutions;
• Reassignment to another kind of job; and 
• Lateral transfers.

Likewise, the EEOC’s information regarding employers’ obligations to prevent such discrimination states that they must not carry out activities towards employees that may create a conflict or cause interference in the latter’s religious practices. For instance, employers must not be too strict when it comes to dress code, especially if there is one employee who wears a turban or a head scarf at work. Also, employers must not refuse an employee to observe a religious holiday or the Sabbath day.

Consequently, employers must initiate ways to prevent discrimination in the workplace based on religion. As it is, employers may be able to reduce their chances of a lawsuit by implementing an anti-harassment and/or anti-discrimination within their respective workplaces. Otherwise, an employee subjected to such bias may think of seeking the help of a Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer to file charges against the erring employer.

The Devastating Combination of Wrongful termination and Discrimination

Wrongful termination and discrimination takes place across the globe on a daily basis. Basically, discrimination is defined as the maltreatment of an individual due to his or her age, disability, nationality, race, religion or gender.

Meanwhile, wrongful termination is a phrase that describes the situation in which an employer unlawfully terminates an employee from his or her job. Wrongful termination happens if the one of the terms of the employer-employee contract (if any) is breached. It also happens if the employer doesn’t provide the employee his or her rights as stated under their employment handbook.

As it is, both wrongful termination and discrimination occurs in almost all areas of the United States that provide employment opportunities to all people, including the city of Los Angeles in California.

Employees who may be either discriminated or wrongfully terminated are advised to file a complaint against their erring employer through the assistance of a Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer.

The lawyer can help in establishing the complaint against the employers, as well as guide the clients through the processes of either litigation or known alternative dispute resolution techniques such as mediation. Such lawyer can provide aggrieved employees with a great chance of winning a settlement since they help in gathering evidences and obtaining witnesses’ statements that would help strengthen the case.

Discrimination in the employment continues up until now and it would greatly help if employees know beforehand that there are facets to it so they could protect themselves from maltreatment. Since they are aware that they are being discriminated against, they could easily find protection from specific employment laws.

Meanwhile, here are some of the common forms of discrimination:

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• Age discrimination. This is the maltreatment of workers aged 40 and above. Employers are prohibited to create age bias in all employment practices as stated in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

• Disability discrimination. This violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which states that it is prohibited for employers to maltreat or create prejudice towards an employee who has a disability.

• Religious discrimination. This takes place when a worker is unfairly treated due to his or her religious and personal beliefs.

• Sex discrimination. As the name suggests, it is the maltreatment of employees because of his or her sex or sexual preference.

Trying to Kill Two Birds with One Stone: The Negative Implications of Pregnancy Discrimination

Women undergoing pregnancy and expecting to conceive a child should be provided with optimum care since stress or anxiety may cause harm to the infant inside their wombs. However, this is not always the case in California since some employers have a faulty impression that these women are liabilities to the company.

For many employers who violate the rights of pregnant employees through wrongful termination, they think that these women have no capability of carrying out their specific tasks assigned to them due to their condition. Obviously, this is discriminatory and unfair for them.

Fortunately, there are federal laws that protect women employees undergoing pregnancy from being discriminated against on the basis of their medical condition. One such law is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Implemented since 1993, the law states that female employees should be given time to care for or nurse for their newborn baby. Meanwhile, the law also states that pregnancy discrimination is defined as the cruel treatment of expectant women. Most of the complaints under pregnancy discrimination have illustrated the cruel treatments towards soon-to-be mothers in which they were deprived of their basic rights and benefits.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that enforces FMLA and other federal laws that prohibit discrimination. As it is, the agency provides some of the most common premises within workplaces which can be easily categorized as pregnancy discrimination. Here are some of them:

• The employer deliberately refuses to amend the workload of the employee.

• The employer lessens the wage of the employee because of her pregnancy.

• The pregnant applicant is denied of her application because of her condition.

• The employer does not promote the employee on purpose due to her pregnancy

• The employer imposes rules within the company that favors the non-pregnant employees over pregnant ones.

Incidentally, a Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer can help aggrieved employees in prosecuting employers who unlawfully acted against them. With the lawyer’s expertise in going after defendants and obtaining justice for clients, questioned employers should be able to learn their lesson since their actions deprive the rights of both the newborn baby and his or her mother.

Discrimination as the Root of Various Misunderstandings

Discrimination is one of the root causes of various misunderstandings. Basically, discrimination is legally defined as the prejudicial treatment of a person because he or she is a part of a group or a society. History tells us that discrimination went as far as killing other people just to prove the superiority of a certain group over the more inferior, “weak” group. Of course, all of that doesn’t happen too much today. Despite discrimination still rampant in today’s society, especially in employment, its modernization has brought a broader perspective on such matters.

These changes led to the existence of certain laws whose goal is to protect the emotional, physical and psychological well-being of the employee. In the United States, one such law is called the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It states that discrimination based on religion, race, color, sex and national origin is strictly prohibited.

Among the forms of discrimination, prejudice based on sex is the most prevalent. It is known as the negative treatment of a person, specifically an employee or applicant, because of his or her gender. It is usually perceived the sex discrimination happens only to women; however, this is not purely true. The trend has changed and at the present, many men have also been subjected to maltreatment by their co-workers or employers.

An even more complex issue in workplace discrimination is the inhumane treatment of those who belong in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sector (LGBT). Employees associated with this group also experience humiliation due to discrimination. According to the findings of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), discrimination often takes place in all aspects of employment, including:

  

• Layoffs;
• Hiring;
• Firing;
• Pay;
• Job Assignments;
• Promotions;
• Training; and
• Fringe benefits.

Any employee who has experienced this type of discriminatory act should ask for legal assistance. This can be done by hiring the services of a Los Angeles employment discrimination lawyer. Such professional has the capability to prosecute the liable party and recover compensation for the client in the form of monetary payments.