Pregnancy in the Workplace: COVID, FAQs, Your Rights, & Illegal Discrimination
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Posts tagged ‘FMLA’
Nov 15
Feb 6
No FMLA – Yes Maternity Leave
If you’re a pregnant employee working for any company in the United States with at least 15 employees, you’re entitled to maternity leave. You’re entitled to a reasonable period of time after your baby is born to recover from childbirth and get back to work. It doesn’t matter if you’re not eligible for a Family and Medical Leave Act leave, and many employers will tell employees that unfortunately because you don’t qualify for the FMLA as you haven’t been here for at least a year, or you won’t have worked here for at least a year full time when your baby is born, or we’re not large enough we don’t have 50 employees, so sorry if you don’t have enough accrued paid time off, you can’t take leave or you’re on your own and you’ll have to resign. That is not true. That is a misrepresentation of the FMLA. It is in fact a lie and so if your employer does not accord you a reasonable maternity leave when your baby is born, it is violating the law.
It is sex discrimination under federal in your state’s law because your employer gives non pregnant employees time off to recover from illness or injury, and it’s also disability discrimination because you’re disabled for a certain period of time after your baby is born. So the FMLA is sometimes used to fool employees into believing that they’re on their own and they’re not entitled to protected leave following the birth of their baby.
Make sure if your employer tells you that, that you put it in writing back to them, telling them that they’re wrong, that it is pregnancy, sex, and disability discrimination, and give them the opportunity to resolve it, to fix it first in your favor. And if they don’t, you’ll take further action. But you want to document all of it and hopefully your employer will wake up and permit you to take the leave that you’re entitled to when your baby is born.
Jan 26
Breastfeeding at Work
By Jack Tuckner, Esq.
Under federal law, since 2010, women returning from maternity leave who are breastfeeding, nursing parents – are entitled to a clean, private, non-restroom, non-bathroom space in which to express milk; to take a break and to lactate on a similar schedule to what your baby would be doing, nursing, if you were home, two or three times a day. Otherwise, it’s very painful, you can develop mastitis, it may interfere permanently with your ability to breastfeed, and it’s illegal.
So, you want to make sure that you are requiring, requesting, demanding that you have a place to lactate, to express milk, otherwise it is sex discrimination. And under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, lactation is a related medical condition to pregnancy. So it is a requirement and in certain states such as New York, you’re entitled to express milk for up to three years after the birth of your baby. And again, it can’t be in a makeshift room which doesn’t have running water or electricity; it has to be a space that’s private, clean, has an outlet for your electric pump, and a place to rinse your pump after you’re done without any hostility, without discrimination, and without your employer giving you a hard time as a result of it – that would be sex and pregnancy discrimination.
But make sure, the onus is on us, the employees, initially, to request – and I would recommend that you put that request in writing, so that you’ll have proof and you can hold your employer accountable if they fail to comply with the law. Federal law, New York State law, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in New York City – all require private space for you as a nursing parent to express milk.
Jun 30
Nothing’s more important than the health of your baby
By Jack Tuckner, Esq.
Nothing’s more important than your health, and the health of your unborn baby. But your employer may not feel that way.
To the company, your pregnancy is a bit of a pain in their ass. You have extra needs, you have additional doctors appointments, you may have morning sickness, you may have pregnancy-related medical problems, or pre-existing issues exacerbated by the pregnancy; you may need time to sit down at work, you may need time to express milk after your baby is born, when you get back from maternity leave. You may need, and you will need a maternity leave when your baby is born. Your employer sees all of this as against its bottom line – it’s not a profit-making enterprise, your baby making. And so, you may find that your employer pushes back on the notion of being flexible with you, caring about you, when you’re pregnant.
The good news is, they must care about you when you’re pregnant because the law requires a reasonable accommodation, so-called, of your pregnancy, and anything related to it, and to you as a woman with child. If you’re struggling with work-related, pregnancy related challenges while you’re working, just understand that it is illegal even if your employer doesn’t know it. And don’t give up, don’t despair. If you live outside of New York, you may want to consult with an employment lawyer – an employee-side, Plaintiff-side, employee rights lawyer, who’ll know your local jurisdiction’s rules, and will help empower you so that you can navigate these difficult times, teach your employer what it must do, and if the employer refuses to, you’ll be in a much stronger position to teach it a lesson, and to take care of yourself, and your unborn child, who will soon be born.
If you work in New York, feel free, or if you work anywhere and have any questions about your pregnancy-related issues, feel free to call us to call me – I’m Jack Tuckner; or to call Deborah O’Rell at our women’s rights in the workplace law firm based in New York, and in Upstate, New York. And we will consult with you free of charge to see if we can assist you. Remember, don’t give up, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, to coin a phrase. Document your pregnancy, tell your employer in writing that you’re pregnant, ask about its pregnancy policies. If you’re being treated poorly as a result of your pregnancy, put it in writing, complain about it, even if you don’t think that your employer will care – they may not, but you want to have a paper trail. Very important. This is what civil rights are all about, this is what it means to empower yourself and to change the workplace and change the world, so it is actually family values oriented, so that your employer actually has to express care towards you – as a female who is pregnant, and still trying to balance, having a life, and having a job.
