By hiring pregnancy discrimination lawyers Los Angeles based employees can counter the pregnancy-related discrimination they face in the workplace. If you are in such a situation and have experienced unfair treatment from your employer, the lawyer can help you understand your legal rights and prove the pregnancy discrimination. They can also assist you with any other legal claims you might have.
What is pregnancy discrimination?
Many employers hire people for the long term and may not be pleased to have their work schedule interrupted on account of the employee’s issues. That includes the employee asking for time off for pregnancy-related health concerns or taking maternity leave. They might retaliate against the employee by taking adverse employment actions such as cutting their work hours, reducing their salary, demoting them from their current job position, denying them a promotion, or terminating them from the company.
These kind of actions on the part of the employer fall within the category of discrimination and you may be able to take legal action against them. However, it is up to you to prove that the discrimination was related to your pregnancy.
What are your legal rights?
There are various employment laws in California that protect pregnant employees from being discriminated against.
The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)
The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) in California prohibit workplace discrimination against pregnant women. You can take legal action against your employer if they harass you in the workplace or terminate you from your job on account of your pregnancy. However, the FEHA only covers employers who have five or more employees.
The Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL)
If you are pregnant and work for an employer who employs five or more employees, the Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL) entitles you to take up to four months of leave. You don’t need to have worked for the employer for any minimum amount of time to qualify for this legal provision. You may have to provide your employer with a medical certificate when you take the PDLL.
How do you prove pregnancy discrimination?
You can prove pregnancy discrimination by showing that the adverse actions that the employer took against you were related to your pregnancy. There are various ways to do this, depending on your specific situation.
• If your employer used bad performance as an excuse to fire you, it may be possible to prove they are lying by using evidence showing that your actual performance exceeded that of your non-pregnant co-workers.
• If your employer suddenly starts giving you poor work reviews, you can show that you were getting great ones for the same work until up to the time of your pregnancy.
• If your employer starts treating you poorly as compared to other employees or makes resentful comments about your pregnancy, it is evidence of their discrimination.
• Another example of pregnancy-related discrimination is getting a job offer revoked after the employer finds out that you are pregnant.
Since most employers are rarely going to openly discriminate against you over your pregnancy, the evidence you have is likely to be circumstantial. By hiring pregnancy discrimination lawyers Los Angeles based employees can use this circumstantial evidence to show that there is a reasonable inference that the discrimination was pregnancy-related.
Depending on your situation, the pregnancy discrimination lawyers may also be able to establish other legal violations against you. These include pregnancy harassment and harassment of breastfeeding mothers, such as people making unpleasant and vulgar comments about the shape of your body, calling you lazy, or claiming that you are not committed to your work.
Hiring a lawyer for pregnancy discrimination
By hiring pregnancy discrimination lawyers Los Angeles based employees can get solid legal representation to prove their case. Many lawyers offer an initial consultation for free and will review your situation to let you know if your case against your employer can withstand legal scrutiny in court. It is essential to find out if the lawyer has prior experience in handling cases similar to yours and what their rate of success was. You should also inquire upfront about the legal cost and about the kind of settlement you can expect if you win the discrimination case.
