Were you looking for a job and did not get one because you were pregnant?
Did your employer make the work environment unpleasant pre- or post-partum?
Got fired but cannot sue because your employer had fewer than 15 employees?
Send Us Your Stories - information is strictly confidential
Let us tell the world what goes on and that it is time to fight for mothers' civil rights
Y's Story
I had been employed by the same company for 2 years and 10 months. I was pregnant when I joined the company and 7 months into employment, I went on maternity leave for 8 weeks and came back right after as it was a new job. I even lost 2 weeks of vacation as a result. The period was a difficult one for me as I had been unemployed previously for 18 months and was thrilled when I found my new job around the same time I was pregnant with my first child. My bosses seemed accommodating enough, until they started to talk about me like I was diseased. No one on my team was a mother and had no experience of what it felt like to be pregnant. My job was not affected in any way during this and I got glowing performance reviews each time.
The second time around, I found out I was pregnant in August of 2008 and told my boss 3 months later, I reassured her that I would work till the end and my job will not be affected in any way. I never even once took a sick day or skipped work because of my pregnancy. All was going very well until last week, when I was laid off. The hard part was part was I was asked to hand over 3 years worth of work I had done by my boss and someone else was bought in from another department to resume work, a day after I got fired. Even though my boss mentioned that was not why she was bought in. The timing and the way they went about my lay-off just seemed wrong. On my team, my role is the one that adds the most amount of value to the company, being laid off like that seemed very discriminatory to me. I also felt like an easy target since I was pregnant. I got glowing performance reviews and even all of my colleagues knew I was a hard worker.
S's Story
I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In May of 2006 I found out I was pregnant. I was working at one of the local hospitals where I had a "dime a dozen" housekeeping position. I did the right thing and I told my immediate supervisor I was pregnant. He pushed and pushed me to tell the department manager which I finally did in June 2006. I had gotten a performance review in April 2006 that was absolutely glowing. By then time my maternity leave finally rolled around at the end of January ( I worked until the day I delivered) I was on the verge of being fired. I went from being a model employee to the worst thing to walk through the doors. I took off my 6 weeks maternity leave and came back to work. Oddly enough all of the complaints were gone and again I was a model employee. That is until I found out just 6 weeks after returning to work that I was indeed pregnant again. I was due at the end of december, exactly 11 months after the birth of my son I was due to have a daughter. I hid the pregnancy from my supervisors for as long as i could, but soon the news got out that I was again expecting and again I dropped from the top of the ladder to the bottom. It got so bad that for a week straight I came home in tears. At that point I quit my job. That was in the end of October 2006. Luckily I was able to find a part time holiday job at one of the local malls to get us through Christmas. Four weeks after my daughter was born I found a wonderful new job that I am still at to this day. The memory of that time still bothers me and I will tell my story to anyone who will listen and I can still not set foot in that building I have actually moved all of the family doctors and will make sure I find a specialist somewhere else if it is needed. I know it was not the hospital that was directly responsible for what happened to me but it has still left a bad taste in my family's mouths.
J's Story
I worked for a small company and was made redundant two weeks before I was to go on paid maternity leave. My employer cited downsizing due to financial difficulties, but as soon as I was gone, he employed his wife to do the same job I had been doing. I talked with lawyers, but can not sue for pregnancy discrimination because the company had less than 15 employees.
M's Story
My entire work group was made redundant when I was six months pregnant. I was showing and did not bother to look for a new position since I believed that no one would hire a woman about to go out on maternity leave.
T's Story
I worked for the same company for 5 years as a consultant, attracting many new clients and proudly contributed to the business developing a reputation for having high quality service that catered to not only contractors but was also homeowner friendly. A year before I left, the company was purchased by new owners who kept most of the current staff on including me. When I informed them of my pregnancy they were accommodating enough, however when it came time to have the baby, they could offer me no kind of compensation whatsoever during my maternity leave. They were happy enough to have me back after maternity leave, even though they had me train someone new :-? I couldn't help but feel I had lost my job because I had a baby! I really liked my job and had enjoyed a large clientèle that had taken years to get. I decided not to sue because I felt did not have the support to go ahead with legal action. Thank you for making this website!
My Story
I am in the middle of a lawsuit with my former employer. During my pregnancy I had problems with depression and attended a day hospital for 2.5 weeks. When I got back from that medical leave I was told that my performance had deteriorated and that I should be put on a performance improvement plan. I had very good performance reviews from my manager, peers, and direct reports in March 2007. I declared my pregnancy in April 2007.
I went on 8 weeks maternity leave in Dec 2007, fully paid by the disability insurance. One hour after I returned to work from maternity leave I was told that I had been permanently removed from all projects and that my direct reports had been re-assigned. I would also be put on a performance review plan (yes - directly following maternity leave), and that if I didn't like it I could take a compensation package.
The lawsuit is proceeding, but because this company has a class action lawsuit against them for pregnancy discrimination from the sales force, they are unlikely to settle, since this would create a precedent.