Impact and Examples of Pregnancy Discrimination In Workplace

In giving examples of pregnancy discrimination in workplace, I must say that the overall impression shared among company hierarchies is; If any employee is unable to perform the duties of their job, they should be terminated regardless of circumstances. Business is business.

The work industry is trying so hard to stay afloat amidst fierce economic pressure. Hubs are closing down and business owners are trying to survive too.

If you are a business owner and an underperforming staff start making you lose clients or dragging you back due to his or her present state, what will do you? The sole aim of any business “take it or leave it” is to make profit while satisfying their clients and exceeding their expectations so that they want more.

If some other firm is giving them this satisfaction, why then stick with you who come short due to one reason or the other. But if someone passes on for instance, will the organisation go down the drain? The the answer is NO!!!

Empathy should be the first priority for businesses. It’s both the employees and the employers that drive companies forward.

Due to current work conditions on a global scale, competitive work environments, disdain for US manufacturing, and a predominant lack of “America First” mentality, US workplaces have become incredibly hostile towards non-performance of any degree, regardless of condition. This will only further decay over time as more and more countries become more and more competitive, and as the US continues to severely penalize US companies.

Yes, it is a sensitive situation and there are a lot of facts that one may probably miss out. The burden of proof will therefore always be with the employers to determine if discrimination against a pregnant woman took place. Some inhumane stories of promotion being withheld because pregnant employees were out for few months on maternity leave may not justify the proof.

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Here are dissatisfying stories and examples of pregnancy discrimination in workplace that stirred up this blog post.

Story 1

I went for an interview in a school and the school owner was asking me. How serious is my relationship since am single? Am I getting married or pregnant anytime soon? Oh my goodness!!! I told her ma!!! These are personal questions. I later got employed. Immediately, a colleague became visibly pregnant, she was sacked!

Story 2 on examples of pregnancy discrimination in workplace

My cousin was fired last year March.
I don’t like to talk about this but I will for one reason, ”pregnancy”
Being her first pregnancy, she was finding it difficult to adjust to the activities at work.
Her boss complained several times but she pleaded for more time to make amendments.
Her boss got fed up as she wasn’t really effective and it was affecting the company’s productivity.
Few weeks after, she was booted out and compensated.
Although her boss said it wasn’t because of her present state, he said it was purely for business reasons and the decision was made by the board.

She became depressed. Thanks to her wonderful husband who stood by her.
Who knows what might have happened to her or the unborn child?
She gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, and also got a new job last month.

Story 3

I had been turned down during interviews because of being pregnant. It wasn’t the fact that I was pregnant, but that I would have maternity leave and they’d be shorthanded again. I can understand this, in a way, but it hurts nonetheless. Now I’ve been raising three children as a single mother and trying to finish school. I’ve applied for jobs but am turned down because of my recent lack of work history.

Story 4 on examples of pregnancy discrimination in workplace

My wife is also pregnant and facing same treatment. She is a fresh graduate from UI, First class honours in food technology. She has been rejected by several companies that she has been posted to for her PPA because she is pregnant. 

We are in the hospital right now because she has been stressed up both physically and emotionally with all these. But she is boldly handling the situation and I am making sure am available to give her emotional support each time she feels down and low. Though she wanted to serve in a company where she can practice her field of study, we are making do with Local Govt Ministry for now till she delivers.

Looking on the bright side – she won’t have to stress her self working with the ministry till our baby is delivered and we have made connections that have promised to absorb her after delivery for her to complete her Youth Service.

All these are discriminations, without any doubt. In France, you simply can’t fire someone during the stage of pregnancy, it’s in the law! We are not robots, we are humans, and sometimes I wonder if CEOs or whoever runs a company remember what it is, a human being.

There is absolutely no or decreasing empathy everywhere. Shady employers intentionally do a lot to prevent themselves from paying maternity benefits and a lot of them can’t afford to do it.

But, if women are being treated like this when they become pregnant, then who will produce the labor force? It’s great that a woman has a man or someone whom in turn has her back, but what about women who are alone when pregnant. There needs to be government intervention in this issue because it’s definitely a cause for concern.

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The Equality act ensures pregnant employees are not treated unfairly and reasonable adjustments are made to accommodate working pregnant women. Pregnancy is one of the protected characteristics, so any employer dismissing an employee whilst pregnant should potentially face a tribunal and be liable to pay significant damages.

Every country has her own labour laws. What guarantees an employee when such incident happen is predicated on if he/she is unionized and the employer labour friendly? Is there an existence of a collective bargaining document between the employer and employee?

How effective and reliable is the local union in the workplace? Where it does not exist, certainly the employee is left at the mercy of the employer. It exist quite often in developing countries but these labour laws are defective and the will to implement or enforce same is lacking.

The work environment shouldn’t continue to discriminate against women by virtue of their reproductive tendencies. Being pregnant does not stop you from being effective. These are seemingly little but mighty factors that should be addressed in order to combat the widespread low socio-economic status among women and the feminization of poverty.

Hopefully, a better balance will come as it becomes increasingly clear it is wanted and needed by the vast majority. Until then? For many, self employment is really the only viable option.

Studies have linked unemployment and self-employment in informal sector among women to their fertility behavior alongside other socio-demographic features. Unemployment tends to be more pronounced but often fluctuates during their reproductive years. Women would go in and out of labour market.

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Surely there are multiple factors that can alter the reproductive years/employment ratio; changes in job sector, becoming self employed, studying, personal illness/injury or carer duties, etc. That’s a lot of variables as to the reason for why unemployment/self employment correlates with reproductive years. Interesting though!

A lot of companies continue thinking that their collaborators are not their most important assets. Workers are the people who contribute to the results. It is not the name of the company or the brand that makes them great. It is the people that works there who makes a company great.

Sometimes, even when the organisations say that they are very supportive of the maternity leave and are super progressive, there is always an invisible stigma that hampers the career of the pregnant employee. It’s really disappointing that this bias is also prevalent in the organizations that claim to work for human rights.

It’s not only during pregnancy but after also after delivery. Women often face lot of problems and discrimination at work place.

It is difficult for a woman to balance between work and her new born child. Being away from her new born child for long periods because of work pressure affects her productivity in the office and also her mental health.

These negative stories do not happen everywhere nevertheless. Here is a story that makes you feel like we still have good humans at workplaces.

This story is typical opposite of any of examples of pregnancy discrimination in workplace

“I remember, when I first found out I was pregnant I was a contractor and my child’s father was experiencing heath issues that prevented him from working. I was so scared to let them know I was pregnant because there are no protections for contractors. Eventually I *had* to tell them because I needed accommodations to maintain a healthy pregnancy and I was really lucky to be at a great company who not only found accommodations for me, but also converted me to a full time employee. Not all women I’ve known have had that sort of positive experience, actually few I’ve talked to have.’

To be fair, some business owners  have and show empathy for their employees. Unfortunately, sometimes, the problem is not always with employers or ‘the board’, the problem could be with managers and those who play to the gallery to/and hamper other manager’s efforts in creating the employee-centrist culture.

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Sadly, it’s not limited to pregnancy. Antiquated corporate mentality limits opportunities to deal with personal affairs during conventional business hours. It’s not only the corporate world.

Children are conceived and born with an innate (genetic) expectancy of a calm and nurturing environment in which to develop their human capacities. This expectancy is hundreds of millions years old and has evolved creating the basis of human intelligence.

Today, we do not live up to that expectancy, and therefore, our children have unmet needs. Everybody has the sensation that something is missing in their lives. We treat our own children badly, because we haven’t received the nurturing we should have.

Agreed it’s a challenge but being honest and impartial, I can see both sides of every of these stories. Business don’t stop just because one is pregnant and most businesses are very compassionate. I urge woman to look for career opportunities that will align with your family future goals as well. 

If you know you will one day want children, look for companies that provide paternity and maternity leave, remotes capabilities, day care facilities within company etc. It’s not only the company’s responsibility but that woman’s responsibility to find a career with benefits that will suit her needs not only now but the future as well.

DID YOU KNOW?

The queen bee copulates once in her life (while flying) and is pregnant forevermore, until she dies. Think about that the next time 9 months seems like a long time.

All honeybees are female, except drones (worker bees are infertile females). Drones do absolutely nothing except copulate with the queen; thereafter they just hang out and drink honey. Drones are sometimes attacked by workers and killed, or expelled from the hive. Freakin’ bees are Libertarians.

When the queen dies or becomes infertile, the worker bees create a new queen by feeding royal jelly to bee-larvae for 3 days. Any female larva could become a queen by being fed royal jelly; it is not known how the worker bees select the larva to be made into a queen. It’s probably done behind closed doors.

When a new queen emerges, she instantly kills all the other queen-larvae. If two or more queens emerge simultaneously, they fight to the death until only one queen remains.

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