Pregnant workers filing more bias complaints
Just days before starting a new job as a receptionist, Kimberly Sudhoff took a telephone call from a hiring manager who asked for her uniform size.
Because she was four months pregnant, Sudhoff said, she wasn’t sure about her size. A few days later, she said, the manager rescinded the employment offer and questioned Sudhoff’s commitment to the job. Sudhoff said she was encouraged to reapply after having the baby.
“It’s really terrible to say, but you can’t help to think if I wasn’t pregnant, I would have gotten the job,” recalled Sudhoff, 27, who lived in Maryland at the time and has since moved to Mississippi.
Federal officials say Sudhoff’s case isn’t rare.
A record 4,901 pregnancy-discrimination complaints were filed nationwide with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state and local fair employment practices agencies in fiscal 2006. That is a 23% increase since 1997, making it one of the fastest-growing workplace bias complaints, according to federal officials.
The number of complaints, however, may not reflect the scope of the problem, said EEOC spokesman David Grinberg. Officials think many women, especially those on a professional track, see filing a complaint and litigation as a “career killer,” he said.
The nationwide increase in complaints reflects cultural shifts, increasing numbers of working women, and old-fashioned notions that still exist in the workplace, consultants say.
Under federal law, employers must treat pregnancy as a temporary illness or medical condition. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which applies to employers with 15 or more employees, covers hiring, leave, health insurance and benefits.
Workplace consultants and lawyers say employers should not ask prospective workers whether they are pregnant or expect to start a family. Job candidates are not required to disclose they are expecting, although it may be obvious in some cases, EEOC officials said.
It’s up to prospective employees to decide the best time to disclose their pregnancy, but workplace consultants recommend telling bosses as soon as possible so employers can start making accommodations and staffing plans.
Sudhoff decided to go to the EEOC after she was emboldened by an article on pregnancy discrimination that she read in a book her doctor provided. She filed a complaint last year against Falling Spring Corp., a franchise owner of a Hampton Inn in Hagerstown, Md.
In turn, the EEOC, which enforces federal laws prohibiting job discrimination, filed a lawsuit on her behalf. Falling Spring, which settled the case, denied the allegations. It agreed to pay $45,000 to Sudhoff and to train managers and employees on anti-discrimination laws, particularly related to pregnancy, according to the settlement.
Maria Salacuse, a senior trial attorney in EEOC’s Baltimore office, said women had become more aware of pregnancy-protection laws and were “willing to come forward and file complaints.”
Based on cases that she has handled, “there appears to be a presumption or misconception about what women should be doing in the workplace if they’re pregnant and whether they should be in the workplace if they are pregnant,” Salacuse said.
As more women choose to have both a career and a family, employers must better balance their business needs with accommodations for pregnant workers, consultants and EEOC officials say.
“If you look back 20 to 30 years ago, a lot of women when they became pregnant, they left the workforce,” said Jocelyn Frye, a general counsel for the National Partnership for Women & Families, a nonprofit group. “Now, it’s far more common that women stay in the workforce.”
About 60% of women quit their jobs before or shortly after their child’s birth in the 1960s. That number fell to 27% during the early 1990s, according to a U.S. Census study examining maternity leave and employment patterns from 1961 to 1995.
“Women should never be forced to choose between motherhood and their livelihood,” said Grinberg, the EEOC spokesman. “Employers should be sensitive to this issue.”
The most common allegations of pregnancy discrimination involve not being hired, unlawful demotions and firing, EEOC and workplace consultants say.
Of the 4,629 pregnancy-discrimination complaints resolved by the EEOC in fiscal year 2006, about 27% were considered to be favorable outcomes for the women who filed the complaints, including settlements. The federal agency recovered $10.4 million during the same period; that figure does not include awards obtained through litigation.
Over the years, EEOC lawsuits have been filed against some well-known companies, including Verizon Communications and Mothers Work Inc., which operates the retail stores Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Mimi Maternity. Both cases resulted in settlements between the EEOC and each company, which denied the allegations.
Verizon agreed last year to pay $48.9 million to settle charges that its predecessor companies, Nynex and Bell Atlantic, had discriminated against employees who were pregnant or on maternity leave. The monetary settlement, which came after a company consent decree in 2002, covered more than 12,000 current and former employees in 13 states.
In January, Philadelphia-based Mothers Work agreed to pay $375,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging it had refused to hire qualified applicants at a Motherhood Maternity store in Florida because they were pregnant.
