Although becoming pregnant might be exciting for a woman, she may also fear that she will be passed up for a job due to her baby bump. Although pregnancy discrimination is illegal, some managers in California and other states sometimes avoid hiring pregnant women for fear that they will not stick around the office for long. When a person experiences this type of discrimination, she has the right to file a claim against the company that allegedly committed the wrongdoing.
In another state, one woman filed a suit against a franchise of the Chick-fil-A chain after she claimed the operator of the franchise asked her many questions regarding her pregnancy. The restaurant then said it wouldn’t accept her as an employee until after she had had the baby, according to the suit. The restaurant recently agreed that it would pay $10,000 in order to settle the case, along with unspecified injunctive relief.
According to the EEOC, the woman was several months pregnant at the time of the incident. The questions she was asked included how long she’d been carrying a baby, when she might deliver, how long she was planning to take maternity leave and what childcare plans she had. The EEOC determined that the franchise operator did violate pregnancy discrimination legislation.
The restaurant now has to create and put into practice a new policy that bars pregnancy discrimination. If a woman is treated differently in the workplace simply because she is carrying a child, she can strive to hold the company financially responsible for their actions in court. Possible remedies in a California case that is effectively litigated may include monetary relief.
Source: eeoc.gov, “Chick-Fil-A Franchisee at Concord Commons to Pay $10,000 to Settle EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit“, , June 6, 2014