More Women Fight Back Against Anti-Pregnancy Bias at Work

"Women are usually so terrified to tell their boss" about a pregnancy, said Mary Jo O'Neill, a regional lawyer for the Phoenix EEOC. "And why is that? It's because pregnancy discrimination is an epidemic out there." She said there has been a 182 percent increase in pregnancy discrimination charges filed in Arizona in the past decade.

O'Neill attributed the increase to a "knowledge vacuum." She said that companies train new hires to avoid sex discrimination and harassment but do not mention, or may not know about, pregnancy discrimination.

Dana Law, an organizational psychologist and human resources consultant, said that when she works with clients, pregnancy discrimination is not explicitly stated unless it is part of a discussion about the Family and Medical Leave Act. Pregnancy discrimination is "still a problem, because people don't know or aren't aware that it's illegal to discriminate on the basis of that," she said. "When you have an increasing number of women entering the workforce and fewer numbers of managers that know, of course the claims are going to rise."

One of those claims includes an auto service technician O'Neill's office represented, who was fired soon after telling her boss she was pregnant.

Mailyn Pickler, the technician, was nervous to tell her boss after she found out she was pregnant but thought she should do it as soon as she finished her first trimester. Her boss, according to the suit, told her he was afraid she would vomit while driving the company's shuttle bus.

According to the complaint, the boss at the auto care center in Mesa, Ariz., indicated that she would be rehired in her job as a general service technician after she completed her pregnancy, provided she produce medical evidence of a complete physical recovery. The case was settled last year for $70,000.

"I knew something was wrong. I just thought, 'They can't fire you because you are pregnant,' " she said. She recently had a second child and is not working outside the home now, but is attending school.

Lynch, the doctor whose case is still pending, waited for the partnership to "come to its senses," she said. But after she complained, she said, she was demoted and the partnership offer was revoked.

Lynch's former employer said the claim has no merit and that she was offered more equity than male colleagues, but that she turned the offer down. Lynch said she was offered substantially less than originally promised and that her pregnancy was cited as a factor.

She now works at a different emergency room and is the mother of four children ages 2 to 8, with another child on the way.

Another case, which expands a sex discrimination claim to include pregnancy and caregiver discrimination, was filed in May as a private class-action case against the biomedical firm Novartis.

The suit, filed on behalf of 12 women who claim the company has a pattern of discriminating against women, says women employees were demoted or fired after they announced they were pregnant or after they returned from maternity leave.

"A growing number of women are coming forward who speak about doing well at work and being on a career path and competing successfully at the workplace. And then discovering that they're pregnant, announcing that they are pregnant and may take pregnancy leave and suddenly have everything change. What was once a very promising career and career path suddenly turns into a brick wall," said David W. Sanford, a Washington lawyer representing the women.

Karen Sutherland, a Novartis spokeswoman, said the company disagrees with all the claims and looks forward to presenting its side of the case in court. She said that for seven consecutive years, the company has been recognized by Working Mother Magazine as a top place to work.

"You have this volatile combination of Generation X and Y women feeling entitled to be in the workplace and live up to widely held ideals of motherhood," said Joan C. Williams, law professor and director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings. "And employers who simply appear not to know that it's gender discrimination to push them out."