Many women hope to one day become pregnant and have a growing family. Though this occasion often marks a time of joy and celebration, numerous women may face concerns about how pregnancy issues could potentially impact their employment. Unfortunately, some employers may take discriminatory actions against female workers when it comes to pregnancy, and those employees could suffer.
It was recently reported that such issues affected some workers at an orchid growing company in California. Apparently, the company told its female employees that they should not get pregnant, and if they did get pregnant, then they would be fired from their positions with the company. At least one worker was required to go on leave after becoming pregnant, and after giving birth, she and other new mothers were terminated from employment.
Due to these discriminatory actions, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit on behalf of the female workers for the mistreatment. The orchid company and the EEOC recently came to a settlement regarding the lawsuit. It was reported that the company will pay $110,000 to settle the suit and allegations of pregnancy discrimination.
Women often face enough uncertainties during pregnancy without having to worry about whether they will be fired from their jobs simply due to their expecting a child. When pregnancy issues come about in the workplace and workers are treated unfairly, there may be legal grounds to pursue a lawsuit, as this case shows. If other California workers feel that they have been mistreated by their employers for being pregnant or for potentially becoming pregnant, they may wish to find out more information on their legal options.
Source: Reuters, “California orchid grower settles EEOC pregnancy discrimination lawsuit“, Robert Iafolla, Oct. 16, 2017