Protecting Pregnant Women and Their Contributions to the Workforce

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 makes it illegal to force pregnant employees to resign from their jobs. The act also makes pregnancy a disability thereby prohibiting employers from denying medical benefits to pregnant women. It forces employers to evaluate pregnant women on their performance to do the job.

For some women, getting is career suicide. Employers shun women who get pregnant so they try to force them out. This is especially true of women who are on the fast track to the top and a top performing employee. It is morally reprehensible to be treating women as second class citizens just because they got pregnant. Are these employers stuck in the June Cleaver Mindset that a woman’s role is in the kitchen?

If a woman goes on maternity leave, they must be guaranteed their original position upon returning. For an example, let’s use the scene from the NBC hit show Friends. In this part of the episode, Rachel was already on maternity leave after giving birth to her daughter. She had two weeks left on maternity leave, and decided to pay a visit to her employer. Upon walking in to her office, she notices someone else working at her desk and working on a major project. The employee that was filling in said that if it wasn’t for him, this division would have been shut down. This would be an example of an insensitive and threatening statement towards the incumbent employee. She was getting the impression that the company may be forcing her out. She decided to end her maternity leave earlier than expected to alleviate fear of losing her job. This is a very common situation that pregnant women experience on the job. It is that fear that they may not have a job when they return, or that employers may look down on them.

There are two alternatives when dealing with a pregnant employee. The first alternative is to utilize a temporary employee, which is hiring professionals for projects without have the obligation to keep the person once the job is done. Using temporary employees adds flexibility to your existing workforce.