What is the significance of the pregnancy discrimination act

You cannot be fired for filing a complaint against your employer if you believe they have violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

If you take pregnancy or maternity leave, your employer must hold your job open for the same amount of time a position would be held open for an employee who is on leave because of sickness or disability. An employer cannot refuse to hire you because of your pregnancy as long as you are able to perform the job.

An employer cannot ask if you are pregnant or plan to have children. However, these employers would need to demonstrate that they do not treat men who are engaged in premarital sex differently than women. But at most organizations, pregnancy-related benefits cannot be limited to married employees.

Know Your Rights Legal Advocacy. Title VII prohibits employment decisions that discriminate against employees with caregiving responsibilities, which includes child care, if the decisions are based on sex or another protected characteristic. Agencies should avoid reliance on common stereotypes or biases about caregivers that may result in unlawful conduct, including:. Department of Labor. Yes, Executive Order , as amended, prohibits discrimination against federal employees and applicants for employment on the basis of parental status.

If at any time you think that you have been subjected to pregnancy or related discrimination, contact the Civil Rights Center at within 45 days of the alleged discriminatory event in order to preserve your right to file an EEO complaint. An employer may not single out pregnancy-related conditions for special procedures to determine an employee's ability to work. However, if an employer requires its employees to submit a doctor's statement concerning their ability to work before granting leave or paying sick benefits, the employer may require employees affected by pregnancy-related conditions to submit such statements.

Further, under the Family and Medical Leave Act FMLA of , a new parent including foster and adoptive parents may be eligible for 12 weeks of leave unpaid or paid if the employee has earned or accrued it that may be used for care of the new child. To be eligible, the employee must have worked for the employer for 12 months prior to taking the leave and the employer must have a specified number of employees.

Department of Labor. Nursing mothers may also have the right to express milk in the workplace under a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act enforced by the U. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Federal employees have 45 days to contact an EEO Counselor.