San Francisco Pregnancy Discrimination Law Attorney
What Is ‘Family Responsibility’ Discrimination?
Pregnancy and family responsibility discrimination are growing areas of employment litigation. Pregnancy discrimination (which is in fact a subset of sex discrimination) occurs when an employer denies a job benefit to a woman because she is pregnant, and/or because she is exercising (or plans to exercise) any of her pregnancy-related rights such as the right to maternity leave. Under state and federal law, pregnant employees can receive several months of unpaid leave for childbirth (although most employees are only eligible for about half that amount, if that). Unfortunately, many employers regularly refuse to hire pregnant employees for fear that their maternity leave may interfere with work requirements.
Family responsibility discrimination is closely related to pregnancy discrimination, except it can happen to both male and female employees (not surprisingly, only women can suffer pregnancy discrimination). Family responsibility discrimination occurs whenever employees are fired, demoted or otherwise marginalized because employers assume that they will be distracted by their presumed duties to their families. As the father of three young children, I am especially sensitive to issues of pregnancy and family responsibility discrimination.
Example:
An employee who is a single mother decides to seek sole custody of her young children. She is a sales representative who travels a lot for her job. When her boss learns that she may soon be required to spend significant amounts of time caring for her children, he assumes that she will not be able to continue her job and therefore tells her that she will be terminated if she does not resign voluntarily. The employee has a viable claim for discrimination based on perceived family responsibilities.
Free Consultation With a Bay Area Employment Lawyer
If you think you are a victim of pregnancy or caregiver discrimination at work, I offer a free case evaluation by telephone. Call 415-689-6590 (866-290-0424 toll free) or contact me, a San Francisco employment lawyer, online to talk about your case.