Pregnancy Discrimination

Pregnancy discrimination occurs when an employer treats a pregnant employee less favorably than other employees. Examples of pregnancy discrimination include:

• Denying a job or promotion to a pregnant woman solely because of her pregnancy.
• Firing a pregnant employee or forcing her to resign because of her pregnancy.
• Cutting an employee’s hours or pay because she is pregnant.
• Moving a pregnant employee to a less challenging or lower-paying job.
• Subjecting the employee to offensive comments, jokes, or other behaviors related to pregnancy.
• Asking applicants questions about pregnancy or childbearing plans during job interviews.
• Treating a pregnant employee differently upon her return from maternity leave, such as giving her a less desirable job or denying her access to training opportunities

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy in all aspects of employment, including hiring, firing, compensation, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

Discrimination claims based on pregnancy require you to demonstrate: (1) Your employer is aware of your pregnancy; (2) You are performing your job satisfactorily; (3) You experienced an adverse employment action; and (4) You were treated differently than similarly situated non-pregnant employees.

An adverse employment action is a significant change in employment status, such as termination, demotion, decrease in pay, reassignment with significantly different responsibilities, or any other action that inflicts economic harm.

In order to pursue a claim for pregnancy discrimination,

• Your employer must have at least 15 employees; and
• You must also file a charge of discrimination with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the South Carolina Human Affairs Commission (SCHAC) within 300 days of the alleged discriminatory conduct. It is preferable to have an experienced employment lawyer draft your charge. However, you don’t need a lawyer to file a claim with the EEOC or SCHAC. You can file a claim with these agencies on your own. See https://www.eeoc.gov/how-file-charge-employment-discrimination  Or go to the SC Human Affairs Commission website. https://schac.sc.gov/employment-discrimination/how-file-employment-complaints.