Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace: How Far Have We Come?

Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. In the workforce, the issue of racism and discrimination has been brought to the center of conversations around the world. Companies claim to be “colorblind” and not hire somebody based on their race or gender, but the employment rates among minorities and women around the world is significantly lower than the majority in the given country. There is also the growing issue of minorities, such as blacks in america, making significantly less money than whites. This issue affects people all around the world who happen

Legislation by state and federal arms of government has made discrimination in workplaces illegal. This piece of legislation goes further to stipulate the rights and responsibilities of both the subordinates and their employers in the workplace. This legislation aims to bring sanity in the workplace by ensuring that both groups are accountable.

With an increasing number of women entering the workforce, pregnancy discrimination has become a pervasive problem. This paper, which focuses on the United States (US), thus considers the underlying reasons and impacts of this biasness from the perspectives of both employee and employer. It then follows with a study on the legal protections in place to prevent such behaviour. And lastly, it will analyse various ethical issues involved in this unequal treatment of pregnant employees in the workplace using ethical frameworks such as Utilitarianism theory, Kantian Ethics and John Rawls’ Justice as Fairness. These ethical frameworks will help highlight

There have been numerous laws in the past that have enforced discrimination. One example are the Jim Crow laws in the south that prevented blacks from obtaining equality in society for about 100 years. Affirmative action of the courts and prison systems which discriminates against Blacks and Hispanics, gives them 20% longer sentences, targets their neighborhoods, racially profiles, weakens minority neighborhoods electorally, created the culture of fatherless homes as a reaction to the Civil Rights Movement, fills prisons with low-level offenders for petty drug offenses, with illegal searches and in some states; where those crimes have been decriminalized anyways and disproportionately targets minority youths in instances where white youths would be dealt with informally.  Which is masked by "Affirmative Action" which largely benefits white women and Jews anyways. There were also the Convict codes, which were used to put Blacks back on the

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides protection’s for woman who are pregnant. A woman cannot be fired because she is temporarily unable to perform her job duties due to pregnancy. A public school will have to treat this teacher as if she were temporarily disabled. The Family and Medical Leave Act states that the school can require the teacher to take unpaid leave. The school also has the legal obligation to give this teachers job upon her return. This however is minimum requirement by law. School districts or individual contracts may have additional benefits allowed to woman in this situation. The Civil Rights Act and The Family Medical Leave Act are the “floor”. These Federal Statutes apply to what they say they apply too. So

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act does not require preferential treatment for pregnant employees. Rather, it mandates that employers treat pregnant employees the same as non-pregnant employees who are similarly situated with respect to their ability to work. The PDA expands the definition of "sex" in Title VII as follows:

This paper explores three published articles that report on how many women lack job security when working while pregnant. Many are either denied the special accommodations or forced to quit their job. The Pregnant Worker Fairness Act (PWFA) is a bill currently pending in Congress, that would help to end any type of discrimination towards pregnant workers and ensure that they would be able to continue working to support their families. The articles all agree that the PWFA would put in place rules and guidelines for employers to follow that would help protect the job of the pregnant employee. Brown (2016) states that much has changed for women in the workforce during the last half-century, but treatment of pregnant workers remains frustratingly

situations like taking medical leave for having a baby will be usually be twelve weeks.

 If a doctor or health care provider says their patient is sick and unable to work during their pregnancy, they may be able to get up to 12 weeks off without pay under this law.

Nice post Theresa Scully, your views based on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, on hiring a pregnant woman, might not always be suitable for a small company. In most cases financial difficulties usually play a role with small companies choices of employees. If an accident happened to a pregnant woman while on the job, the cost would be unbearable, because it would not be just one person but two (unborn child). I definitely would not hire a pregnant woman to fill a small business’s blue-collar job position unless that position was a desk job or lite work. As an employer it is your duty or liability that the work environment is safe for all conditions of your employees. Pregnant woman whose performances are physically restricted from

We decided to save all my vacation time and paid time off as well as cutting corners so we could afford for me to stay home longer. Unfortunately, I was placed on bed rest six weeks before she was due. One of the consequences of maternal unemployment is related to the need to take off time before childbirth that reduces the amount of time after birth with the baby

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) is an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII” (Eeoc.gov, 2015). In 2008, this act was not obeyed in the Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. case. Plaintiff Peggy Young, a dedicated UPS truck driver, filed for discrimination under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act after her manger had put her on unpaid leave while she was pregnant. Prior to her leave, she had expressed to her manager she was instructed not to lift any heavy packages, over 20 pounds, from there on out for obvious safety reasons. UPS also told Young that her pregnancy did not qualify her for the “light-duty work” the company assigned other employees in the past; employees with disabilities, injured on the job, and individuals who had lost their driving certification.

From the beginning of time the male and female have been expected to perform certain roles in society. Males have been expected to work and provide for their family while the female raises the children, cooks, cleans and keeps the house in order. Today many women have broken that tradition and are starting their careers and becoming more independent. Even though females today are braking away from that stereotype, they are being discriminated in the work place because there are still individuals out there that believe that women should play a certain role and that they are not strong enough to work in a cooperation or

If I were in the position of the pregnant employee, I wouldn´t agree if the company fire me. As pregnant employees are overprotected, I would fight against the company until they lose the case.

2. Some companies purchase the insurance, which include the pregnancy care for the female employees. This will avoid the judgment with pregnancy