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Pregnancy & Contagious Illness: Know Your Rights in the Workplace!

April 30, 2020 by Bethanie Ryan

Did you know that women, and disproportionately women of color, are on the front lines during every respiratory virus season? 

According to the Center for Economic Policy and Research, nearly two-thirds of frontline workers are women and people of color, who are overrepresented in industries such as: 

  • building custodians/housekeeping (90.7% female, 69.8% people of color),
  • child care workers (95% female, 44.8% POC), 
  • home health care services (87.5% female, 53% POC), 
  • nursing care facilities (84.2% female, 44.6% POC), 
  • and cashiers (71.8% female, 44.6% POC)!

We know these workers are at risk, but what if they are pregnant? Do they have any rights?

The good news is: All of the protections for pregnant workers still exist! 

Additionally, there are some health considerations pregnant workers can also access.

Generally speaking, laws are broken into either federal or state legislation.

Relevant federal laws include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). How does each law help?

ADA: If you need accommodations due to a pregnancy related impairment, the ADA protects you. Examples of this can include, but is not limited to: gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and heart abnormalities. Just being pregnant does not protect you under this act, but having any related pregnancy complications can. That means you are entitled to reasonable accommodations based on your doctor’s recommendations! This can include being transferred to different duties, teleworking, or working behind the scenes, instead of with the public.

PDA: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act assures that all workers are treated the same, regardless of pregnancy status. The actions taken either for or against a pregnant worker cannot be solely based on her pregnancy. This is to help protect situations where a woman may be fired/laid off/let go simply because she is pregnant but other workers get to stay.

Please Note: 29 states have state-level laws that are called Pregnant Workers Fairness Laws, and these tend to complement the federal PDA. Under the state laws, they go one step further and say not only can you not terminate/lay off a pregnant worker, but reasonable accommodations should also be available, such as added restroom breaks, lactation time, reducing lifting heavy weight, etc.

FMLA: The Family and Medical Leave Act is what protects workers from losing their jobs (but does not pay them) while they take time off to care for a family/medical situation.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was put in place to augment the FMLA when that family or medical situation relates to COVID-19. If you need to take time off specifically due to a COVID-19 diagnosis or symptoms for yourself or a family member, or if your child’s school or day care was closed due to COVID-19. This is 80 hours of paid leave, but this law is only in effect through the 2020 calendar year. Receiving this type of pandemic assistance may not affect your FMLA, so you could still use that later or in conjunction with it.

It is important as a pregnant worker to stay in close contact with your supervisor or company’s HR department. They are the ones who implement any accommodations and answer company-specific questions. Keep in mind the law sets in motion an interactive, conversational process between the worker and company. Ideally, each situation is individualized.

If you find that you are not being treated fairly, or the conversation is not happening, you can then contact your local Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The source for this information and more details about these laws can be found at A Better Balance.

You and your unborn child have a right to health!

By Joyce McCauley-Benner

Filed Under: Know Your Rights at Work, Work Tagged With: Coronavirus, COVID-19, employee rights, pregnancy, pregnancy rights

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Who is cutting the onion? 🥲I’m sharing this on the grid, because we all need a laugh.So this is not a poem.It’s about poo.And not even my child's poo.This is a story about the glamorous life of me right now.I'll keep it short, much shorter than my trip to the toilet.Both the kids were having screen time because quite frankly I had had enough and was at my limit, the move has been a lot and we were all a bit overwhelmed.Heidi had decided she wouldn't do her nap in the bassinet & so I strapped her in the carrier, seems to be the norm these days.Only, her nap lasted much longer than I had anticipated. An hour went by & the urge to pee was too great, yet so was the urge to not wake her.After careful consideration I thought I would attempt going to the toilet with her strapped in, surely I could manoeuvre all I needed to, and with a slight sway while weeing she may even stay asleep.Mother's can do anything right....But no, my body had other plans.Code brown alert.Not too far along post birth it was safe to say there would be no holding back. My mind was saying no... everything all postpartum down there was saying hell YES.So here I was, sitting on the toilet at my nanas house, kids out in the lounge while I was stuck on the toilet with my baby strapped to me taking a twosie.Other than the fact this was not my plan at all (and pretty unsanitary), she started to wake, of course she did.Now, unloading a baby from a carrier at the same time you're unloading timber is quite the awkward art. But here we were, my gorgeous little baby in my arms, carrier and pants at my feet with her apologetic mum just trying to finish what she unintentionally started.Luckily it was all smiles from her.I cooed & talked to her like it was totally normal for her to wake up in this little echoey room with her mum feeding the fish, and then it happened...her first official laugh.What a moment to behold.This is the way I live. This is what I do.Baby milestone book: place and date of first laugh 🚽✔️When Drew got home from work I needed a moment, just one moment alone to regain some dignity.I went to hand her over & he said,"yep just give me a moment to pee first" 🫠Art: @this_mama_doodles ... See MoreSee Less

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