The Laws Surrounding Maternity Leave

Baby Talk

Work discrimination occurs when an employee is treated differently than other employees due to a prejudice.

Hey Mom!

Although the law protects you from discrimination, don't push your luck by letting an obsession with thoughts about baby consume your work time. It's usually a good idea to keep up a professional attitude and avoid constant talk of checkups, sonograms, and baby names at work. If you're bursting with news, look for a sympathetic co-worker to talk to (maybe one who just had her own baby), but keep the general conversation on subjects other than your pregnancy.

Daddy Alert!

The Family and Medical Leave Act applies to you also. If you have worked at your present company for at least a year, you are entitled by this federal law to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. Ask someone in your personnel department for the details!

It wasn't so long ago that there were no laws to protect pregnant women on the job. If an employer didn't want a pregnant woman at work, he or she could fire her. If a woman wanted to come back to work after delivering her child, there was no guarantee the job would still be there for her. Today, things have changed for the better, and there are a number of federal and state laws that will protect you during your pregnancy. But unfortunately, discrimination against pregnant workers still exists. If you don't know what the law is, it certainly is possible that you can miss out on rights that are legally yours. The two most notable laws protecting pregnant women are the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which was passed in 1978, gives pregnant women the same rights as others with "medical conditions" by prohibiting job discrimination. This law, which applies to companies employing 15 or more people, says…

  • Your employer cannot fire you because you are pregnant.
  • Your employer cannot force you to take mandatory maternity leave.
  • You must be granted the same health, disability, and sickness-leave benefits as any other employee who has a medical condition.
  • You must be given modified tasks, alternate assignments, disability leave, or leave without pay (depending on company policy).
  • You are allowed to work as long as you can perform your job.
  • You are guaranteed job security during your leave.
  • During your leave, you continue to accrue seniority and remain eligible for pay increases and benefits.

This is a discrimination law that protects you from being treated differently than other employees. On the one hand, this is good, but it also means that if your company doesn't provide job security or benefits to other employees, it doesn't have to provide them to you.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)


Federal laws set the minimum on what you must be allowed if you work for a middleto large-sized company. But your state laws or company policies might offer even more. For example, some states provide disability insurance if you have to leave work because of pregnancy or birth. Some companies offer paid maternity leaves. It's up to you to find out what you're entitled to. Consult the personnel director of your company's human resources department about company policy. And contact your state labor office for state laws regarding pregnancy.

The laws regarding work and pregnancy have been written in response to a strong need for fairness. When you ask for a maternity leave, you are not asking for anything that you are not entitled to. So don't hesitate to take advantage of the laws that women before you have fought long and hard to enact.

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