Guide to Pregnancy Discrimination Law

Pregnancy discrimination cases are on the rise, with pregnancy discrimination lawyers taking more businesses to court each year. To make sure you're not one of the statistics, you need to take a proactive stance and ensure that your policies are in full compliance with pregnancy discrimination law.

Pregnancy discrimination law requires that you treat a pregnant employee no different than any other employee with similar physical limitations and leave of absence needs. Pregnancy laws don't just apply to benefits for existing employees; they also apply to the overall environment of your workplace and your hiring practices, making it necessary to train your entire staff to be knowledgeable about the law and what constitutes pregnancy discrimination.

To ensure your business conforms to pregnancy laws and is protected from pregnancy discrimination, you need to:

1. Make sure your discrimination training addresses maternity discrimination law, as well as sexual discrimination in general.

2. Craft clear policies to reflect pregnancy discrimination law.

3. Document reasons for employee discipline and termination, and share this documentation with a defense lawyer specializing in pregnancy law should an employee accuse you of pregnancy discrimination.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use training to avoid pregnancy discrimination

Pregnancy discrimination can surface in the guise of stereotypes about pregnant employees' medical condition as well as more overt sexual discrimination. Combat these problems with training that addresses pregnancy law and sexual discrimination.

I recommend: Discrimination Awareness Program: A Practical Guide & Training Tool addresses a wide scope of discrimination laws, including maternity discrimination law. To focus on sex and gender discrimination in your training, choose one of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace’s training packages, or explore ELT’s fully customizable sexual harassment course.

Craft policies with pregnancy law in mind

Spell out your maternity leave and pregnancy policies clearly, and use sample policies that conform to pregnancy law to help you craft your own.

I recommend: Download free leave of absence policies from Personnel Policy Service, Inc., or the Business Owner’s Toolkit to help you craft your own maternity leave policy.

Locate a lawyer who specializes in pregnancy law

If a pregnancy discrimination case is brought against you, you'll need legal representation -- even if your documentation shows that you committed no discrimination. If you don't have a lawyer, you can find one online.

I recommend: Browse lawyers by state and specialty with FindLaw's Lawyer Search. Fill out Small Business Law Firm's short form to have a lawyer contact you.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• To avoid a pregnancy discrimination cases and to ensure that you're fully complying with maternity discrimination laws, have pregnancy discrimination lawyers review your policies and practices.

The official source of Pregnancy Discrimination Law is
the Pregnancy Discrimination Law page at Business.com