You are Pregnant, You are Fired!

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, such as leave and health insurance, and any other term or condition of employment. The PDA has been trying to accomplish its purpose for 42 years now.

However 42 years after the PDA was enacted, we still see women being discriminated for the simply reason that they want to experiment the miracle of being “mothers”.

If you would like to learn more about the laws that that do or could impact you as an HR Professional while earning continuing education credits towards your SHRM or HRCI certification please join me at one of my upcoming Certificate Program Trainings on topics such as FMLA, ADA, Pregnancy Descrimination, Employment Laws, Interviewing Skills, OSHA and Sexual Harassment Law and Investigation Techniques.

If you would like to learn more about our SHRM-CP®, SHRM-SCP®, aPHR™, PHR®, SPHR® Exam Prep Courses and Boot Camps please check out our upcoming Exam Prep Trainings and check out our Student Testimonials and Success Stories.

Phoenix call center LogistiCare Solutions LLC violated federal law when it fired temporary employees placed by a staffing company because they were pregnant, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed on May 1, 2020. The EEOC also charged that the staffing company, Human Capital Management, Inc., doing business as HCM Staffing, violated federal law when it did not take appropriate corrective action after it learned that LogistiCare terminated its employees because of their pregnancies.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, HCM Staffing placed Tiffany Lewis and at least one other pregnant employee at LogistiCare as Customer Service Representatives. These workers were in a training class for one week before LogistiCare fired them. LogistiCare assumed that they would not be able to comply with its attendance policy because of their pregnancies. HCM Staffing knew why LogistiCare terminated these employees, but complied with LogistiCare’s decision and continued placing employees with LogistiCare, the EEOC said.

These situations are so close to me personally, because even my own mother was terminated from her job back in 1985 when she was pregnant with my baby sister

No woman should ever have to face a situation in which she needs to choose between being a mother or keeping her job.

If you would like to learn more about the laws that that do or could impact you as an HR Professional while earning continuing education credits towards your SHRM or HRCI certification please join me at one of my upcoming Certificate Program Trainings on topics such as FMLA, ADA, Pregnancy Descrimination, Employment Laws, Interviewing Skills, OSHA and Sexual Harassment Law and Investigation Techniques.

If you would like to learn more about our SHRM-CP®, SHRM-SCP®, aPHR™, PHR®, SPHR® Exam Prep Courses and Boot Camps please check out our upcoming Exam Prep Trainings and check out our Student Testimonials and Success Stories.

To read the EEOC Pregnancy claim in its entirety: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-sues-logisticare-solutions-and-hcm-staffing-pregnancy-discrimination

Elga Lejarza-Penn, aPHR, PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP