Women punished for having families

It is really unjust that this happens to women in the work force. I think it really is against the law in some states for employers to discriminate like that. After all, just because women are the ones who bear children should not be a reason to be terminated or have their seniority and their job threatened. I remember going to work for a company in NY. The application asked if I was pregnant. If I was pregnant I wouldn't have been hired. In fact, there were some jobs that wouldn't hire women of child bearing age because they considered them high risk of getting pregnant and missing time at work. Their rationale was that it costs them money to replace a person who is out during pregnancy. Yet, men who get women pregnant aren't discriminated against at all because they don't get pregnant.

That's a tough situation, to be honest: it's not as simple as it sounds. She's been with the company for four months and wants three months' paid leave: I can see why they'd be a bit put out about that. I can also see why they'd be annoyed even if she took the time off unpaid: they'd have to find someone to stand in for three months, with all the associated training costs and everything, then take her back again and let the other person go - losing all the time and effort invested. As I understand it, FMLA would cover her if she'd been there a year. That makes more sense from the business point of view: she's proved permanence by being there 12 months, has grown into the job and the 3-month maternity gap won't hit them so hard because they know they'll have an expert coming back. There's a really vague paragraph in that article, too, that says "When her attorney contacted the company about the allegations of discrimination, she said they granted her leave to have her baby, born in January." Does that mean she's been granted it or not? Who's "she"? Bad writing, there. I once worked with a guy who'd started his job and, on the FIRST day, gone down with glandular fever. He was out for six months. Would you expect the company to pay him sick pay and keep his job for him or to replace him with someone? Surprisingly, they did. The thing I find strange is that, after 4 months there, she wants 3 months off. She MUST have known she was pregnant when she started. They would have noticed, for goodness' sake. Something must have been said at that point. Why is she suddenly complaining now? There's no detail on that in the article. Personally, if I'd been at a company for 16 weeks and asked for 12 weeks off for health reasons, I'd expect to be replaced. That's just my opinion but I seriously wouldn't expect ANY company to hold my job for me for that long when I hadn't even been there a year.

I used to do payroll for a big American company a few years back and aside from the confusing tax laws, one thing that really shocked me was that being pregnant was considered as a disability in FMLA terms. I said what?! Disability? It's not like you had an arm or leg cut out. You're just having a baby as every woman has since the beginning of time. I am happy that in my country, most women are given job security and even financial assistance when they become pregnant and give birth. Here, our Social Security system gives a maternity benefit and you get to receive your salary (base pay) for 60 or 90 days depending if you gave birth normal or via caesarean section. Even fathers here have a paternity leave that is good for seven days once their wives give birth. It seems that the American Labor code, no matter how advanced or developed the country is, is very backwards and chauvinist. It's like a big statement to women, just go home and take care of your children. Don't bother coming back because you already have a husband and child. Your focus should be with these. Women have been known to juggle both home and family at the same time. It's just sad.

i've actually had potential employers ask me "if i planned to have/do i have" children at interviews(which is probably illegal)because obviously they don't want to deal with parental problems/call outs..it kind of stunned me at the time they'd ask something like that.

That is a bunch of bullsh*t! No woman should put up with that crap! That is discrimination for sure! FMLA laws need to protect all woman who are having a child and in the work force! Maybe after this story more woman will come forword and be able to keep their jobs after they have a baby!