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Importance of pregnancy discrimination law
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Pregnancy Discrimination
There are many issues to consider in pregnancy discrimination. The well-being of the child, the well-being of the mother, employer/employee relations, as well as gender issues. There are however several State and Federal laws that protect people against pregnancy discrimination. Two of the Federal laws are the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was an amendment to title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, it is illegal for an employer of 15 or more workers, to discriminate against a person because of pregnancy, childbirth, or pregnancy-related conditions. This means that employers must treat pregnancy the same way they treat any other temporary medical disability.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act states:
An employee can't be fired, denied a job, or denied a promotion simply because they are
or may become pregnant.
Pregnancy must be treated like any other employee disability or medic...
In many schools, women who became pregnant were often relegated to "alternative" educational programs, the participation in which was mandatory. After Title IX, schools could no longer force the student to go to an alternative school, which often was substandard. These students could not be sin...
...ly restrictive maternity leave regulations can constitute a heavy burden on the exercise of these protected freedoms. Because public school maternity leave rules directly affect "one of the basic civil rights of man," Skinner v. Oklahoma, supra, at 541, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that such rules must not needlessly, arbitrarily, or capriciously impinge upon this vital area of a teacher's constitutional liberty.” (Legal Information Institute, 2014) Arbitrarily, the Cleveland BOE perceives that after 5 months, the teacher will not be capable of instructing the class due to the excessive physical demands that will toll on them.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits most of the discrimination and harassment in the workplaces. The provision of the Title VII covers all the state, local government, private employees as well as educational institutions that have at least 15 employees or more. The Act prohibits any discrimination that may be meted against the individuals on the basis of the origin, religion, sex, color, race, and national origin (http://topics.hrhero.com/title-vii-of-the-civil-rights-act-of-1964/).
Schools must provide equal access to school for pregnant and parenting students and treat pregnancy like any other interim disability. Schools also must provide equal access to extracurricular activities for pregnant and parenting students. This means that a school may not a school cannot require a doctor’s note for a pregnant student to participate in activities unless the school requires a doctor’s note from all students who have conditions that require medical care. School must excuse absences due to pregnancy or childbirth for as long as the the students doctor believes is medically necessary. School must also ensure that any separate programs or schools for pregnant and parenting students are spontaneous and offer opportunities equal to those offered for non-pregnant students. Title IX protects every person, boys and girls, men and women, and students and employees from sexual
The next class that is going to be protected is pregnancy. The EEOC states pregnancy discrimination involves treating a woman (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. Anna was not pregnant at the time; therefore, she would not be protected under this class.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects against employment discrimination based on “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” (Moran, 2014, p. 164). This helps ensure fair treatment to all workers. To ensure the safety of all workers, Title VII also protects against harassment, which includes quid pro quo harassment, hostile environment harassment, religious harassment, and racial harassment.
Many cases are being brought to the Supreme Court because many companies and employers are not cooperating with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Just recently a young women working with UPS was forced into unpaid time off because she was pregnant and was told by her doctor she could not lift more than 20 pounds. She felt that she had been unfairly treated because UPS made accommodations for other workers with disabilities but didn’t offer to make accommodations for her. I think that even though the Pregnancy Discrimination Act is there, many companies and employers are not following it. It is not fair for women who become pregnant to be treated any differently than another worker who has a temporary disability. I think that congress should strengthen this act so that women are not forced to choose between their job and the health of their pregnancy and baby. I think that companies and employers who are not following the rules of this act should be punished in some way. One way could be that if they are not obeying this act, they could be fined. It would make them more likely to follow through and follow the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. With more and more women in the work force, it is obvious at some point a majority of these women will be
Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act states that it is unlawful for an employer "to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin…" 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a)(1). This law was enacted in an effort to set right the wrongs of the past and instill equity in the workplace; yet a new set of wrongs and social injustices have been created. This newly created set of wrongs and injustices are referred to as reverse discrimination. Reverse discrimination is discrimination against a majority class, and is ever increasing in public-sector employment.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency that enforces the federal laws, policies and regulations as it relates to employment discrimination. Over the course of years, Title VII has been amended to reinforce its prohibitions to include pregnancy as a type of gender discrimination, jury trials, compensatory damage and punitive damages. Its amendments have also strengthened the enforcement policy of the EEOC. An employer and employee need to be aware of those areas that are and are not covered by Title VII. It applies to employers, unions, joint labor and management committees as well as employment agencies whose functions include referral and training decisions among others. It applies to all private, federal, state and local governments who employ 15 employees or more. An employer with less than 15 employees is not required to comply with the guidelines set by Title VII. Title VII covers all levels and types of employees. In 1991, the act was further extended to include United States (U.S.) citizens who are employed outside of the U.S. for American employers. Non U.S. citizens are also protected as long as they are employed in the U.S. Title VII however, does not a...
Women have the wonderful ability to bring a new life into this world and are granted maternity leave, a certain amount of time after birth to be away from the labor force. However, maternity leave was not always available to women because of the low levels of employed and educated females. In 1978 changing gender norms and increased female labor involvement influenced the passing of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibiting employment discrimination of women due to pregnancy (Smith, Downs, and O’Connell 3). After this legislation, a higher percentage of women in the United States were not only educated but also employed. In 1987, a critical Supreme Court case (California Federal Savings and Loan Association v. Guerra) in California defined
“Surrogacy refers to an arrangement whereby a women agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for others to raise or implanted with someone’s else’s fertilized egg and sperm (Pande, 2009, p.143)”. Commercial surrogacy is legalized in India and has become a hotspot for those who cannot conceive their own child. In a recent news article on reproductive surrogacy stated that “fair-skinned, high caste women are paid US$1600 more for their services” compared to a darker skinned Indian women, even though the baby doesn’t share any genetic material of the surrogate (Asian News, 2012). This is very intriguing because the women’s skin color has nothing to do with the pregnancy, yet fair-skinned women get paid more for the same services. This unfairness doesn’t make any sense on moral grounds. Discrimination amongst dark-skinned people has a long history but is barely mentioned in the scientific literature on reproductive surrogacy tourism, thus this gap in the literature is an important issue to address.
Little views the intimacy of gestation as the most important factor to be considered when examining the issues of a woman’s right to determine a pregnancy. There are no other instances where the state mandates the existence of an intimate relationship agains the will of one of the participants and pregnancy should be no different.
There are federal laws that prevent discrimination in the workplace which is what the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is for. They “enforce antidiscrimination laws, and protect individuals and groups from discrimination.” (Plunkett, Allen, Attner). Some of the important laws are the Equal Pay Act, American with Disabilities Act, Title VII 1964 Civil Rights Act and many more. These laws clearly state the provisions that employers must always follow in the workplace.
...d October 31, 1978 by Congress. It was an amended addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating women who are pregnant are to be treated equally to others. “on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes” (EEOC, 2013).
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants and employees because of their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Religious Discrimination as part of the Civil Rights Act is the subject of this term paper.