Pregnancy Discrimination Essay

In the United States, employed pregnant women face discrimination on a daily basis, despite there being laws in place to protect their rights. Employers decline their pregnant employees basic rights such as; appropriate time off for medical observation and needs. Zillman). Pregnancy discrimination is when employees “treating a woman (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth.” (EEOC). The EEOC have laws into effect that there to protect the rights of pregnant employees, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, PDA. The PDA has been effective since 1978 and forbids from employers to discriminate, in any circumstance, against pregnant employees.

They are forbidden to fire and replace her. (EEOC). When this type of situation occurs, employers can reassign the employer with a lighter workload, an unpaid work leave to seek medical attention, or in some cases, put the employee on a temporary disability leave. (EEOC). Employers must handle this situation just as they would with any other employee that is about to embark on a temporary disability leave, as well as have the employee’s job position available when he or she returns. (EEOC). This was constituted under the Family and Medical Leave Act, FMLA, formed in 1993 and the American Disability Act, ADA, founded in 1990. The FMLA allows employees to take up to unpaid 12 weeks off for circumstances such as childbirth, illness, and other various emergencies. (EEOC). The ADA grants various rights to employees suffering from disabilities whether permanent or temporary. The ADA has caused confusion amongst companies, due employers believing that the ADA only protected those that had permanent disabilities, not pregnant women that have disability like related