Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

Hi All,

I have a question that maybe some of you can help me answer.

I work directly for the owners of my company and I have decided to wait until after their summer vacation (they are out most of July and August) until I tell them about being pregnant - I am due Jan 25th.

I did, however, tell my HR department that I am pregnant mainly because I needed information about changing my insurance plan.

My question is - is telling HR enough as far as "preserving your job" while you are pregnant? The reason I ask is that my company is going thru a lot of major changes, and I am always fearful they may do away with my position (the actual CEO who I work mainly for is thinking of retirement and I sense the "phase out" of his involvement).

I guess imagine they decide tomorrow they will fire me - would HR have an obligation to tell them I am pregnant??

I know this sounds weird, but I'm just a worry wart!!!!

Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

Pregnancy will not save your job if the job is being eliminated.

Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

How many people work in your company? If you don't hit 50 employees, there is no FMLA. And the pp is right, if your position was going to be eliminated, there is nothing about FMLA or pregnancy time off that would "save" the position.

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

I'm not exactly sure what your questions is, but you can get fired or laid off while pregnant. If your position is eliminated, being pregnant won't save your job. You cannot be replaced due to reasonable time off taken because of being pregnant, but you can still lose your job for other reasons.

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

I just went through this with my employer. He never kept women who got pregnant, gave birth and wanted to return. I went to a discrimination attorney and said that's illegal, regardless of FMLA laws. The FMLA is in practice for a larger company. It's NY State law that all women receive disability pay and time off between 6 to 8 weeks from vaginal or csection birth. It's against the law for them to not hire you back after your recovery.

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

Message edited 6/30/2014 4:57:36 PM.

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

But disability doesn't guarantee you a job - you can be out on disability and a company fire you (I see it all the time happening to patients in my practice). FMLA is the law that makes sure your job is held, but that only applies to companies of 50 or more employees. I'm looking for that NYS law for smaller companies and I don't see it. I'd LOVE to see what your attorney provides you with (don't worry I won't steal it, I'm sure you're paying for the attorney's time). I just would love to find the law!

Are you talking NYS or NYC? NYC has different laws than NYS, which I'm finding very interesting.

Message edited 6/30/2014 5:02:34 PM.

Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

This is what I found, so it seems that it would be based on what the company does for other people who end up out on disability.

Pregnancy Discrimination & Temporary Disability

If a woman is temporarily unable to perform her job due to a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, the employer or other covered entity must treat her in the same way as it treats any other temporarily disabled employee. For example, the employer may have to provide light duty, alternative assignments, disability leave, or unpaid leave to pregnant employees if it does so for other temporarily disabled employees.

Additionally, impairments resulting from pregnancy (for example, gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, a condition characterized by pregnancy-induced hypertension and protein in the urine) may be disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). An employer may have to provide a reasonable accommodation (such as leave or modifications that enable an employee to perform her job) for a disability related to pregnancy, absent undue hardship (significant difficulty or expense). The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 makes it much easier to show that a medical condition is a covered disability. For more information about the ADA, see http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability.cfm. For information about the ADA Amendments Act, see http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability_regulations.cfm.

But that's definitely more promising than what I thought!

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

The ADA only covers employees of 20 people. The attorney said its for NYS law. A healthy pregnancy isn't considered a disability unless medical issues arise.

My company does not have FMLA. He said it's against the law if they don't hold my job when I am out on disability. We are on disability because of the intense labor and healing we face. He said that FMLA covers your job with unpaid time. However, if they hire someone to perform your job and you call back after your ready to come back when the disability coverage is over, and they have replaced you...then you need to contact my attorney.

I will speak with him again next week and ask for this in writing and send you a copy of it.

Re: Pregnancy Laws for Employers - Question

There's a lot of incorrect information out there on this. Being pregnant does not protect you from layoffs, nor does it protect you from being fired. You cannot be fired BECAUSE you are pregnant, but you can certainly be fired or laid off while you are pregnant for other reasons. Once you go out on maternity leave, you cannot be fired because you're taking time with your child - FMLA does protect you on that. But again, if your job is entirely eliminated, you could technically get laid off while out on maternity. This does not happen often, but it could happen.

Just to give you some insight, I was 8 months pregnant when I was laid off from my job. They also laid off a 7 month pg woman a few weeks after me. The company did not break any laws b/c my entire dept was laid off (as was her entire dept), and my job was eliminated. I did get an attorney who negotiated a better severance package for me, but again, being pregnant did not protect my job from being eliminated.

I will just say this - if you get laid off, don't sign anything until you talk to an attorney. Companies often try to make you sign something on your way out - and you should definitely not do that. 99% of the time, when a company lays off a pg woman, they will offer her a better than standard package.