Fired when I told them I was pregnant (long)

[Soon2Bmom]

I recently moved from the East Coast to California for my first job after I graduated from grad school. The position that I took is sort of like a one year residency, I require supervision by a licensed supervisor, but I am getting paid and considered an employee rather than an intern. I started five weeks ago.

Two weeks ago I found out I was pregnant and immediately told my supervisor (trying to be as honest as I could). Well she went to the board of the company who made a decision to fire me. They have given me 30 days notice. The only reasons that they stated were that they could not afford to give me the time off, and that they thought I would be more likely to leave and go back to the East Coast to be with my family, so they didn't want to waste the money to train me.

Is this legal? I am not covered by FMLA because I haven't been there for 12 months, in fact, I'm still in the 90 day probationary period.

I guess my question is whether or not pregnancy is protected by discrimination laws, or is that a valid reason to fire an at-will employee still in the probationary period?

I really need advice, I can't afford to go to a lawyer unless I know that I have a case. What I would like is for them to provide me with the health insurance that was promised, and perhaps reimburse my relocation expenses. Is this fair?

Thank you for any advice you could give!!!

 

[loku]

Pregnancy discrimination?

There is a federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Under the Act, an employer may not single out pregnancy related conditions for special procedures to determine an employee's ability to work. However, an employer may use any procedure used to screen other employees' ability to work. If an employee is temporarily unable to perform her job due to pregnancy, the employer must treat her the same as any other temporarily disabled employee.

The bottom line is that your case seems to be in a gray area. If they would treat another worker with a similar inability to work as you will have, then there is no violation; however, their belief that you would be more likely to leave and go back East sounds like it could be pregnancy discrimination.

I would say that there is enough potential to your claim to warrent your getting an assessment by an employment lawyer. If the lawyer thinks you have a case, he/she will take it on a contingency basis.

 

[Soon2Bmom]

Thank you for your response, Loku. I have decided to consult an attorney.

I've read up on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, and I guess there are two things that puts my case in a gray area.

The first is that my position is for a training year, sort of like a residency for doctors. I am still considered an employee of the facility though, and therefore it would seem that I would be covered under employee labor laws.

The second is that there hasn't been anyone else in this type of training position at this facility that has ever required this much time off, so I don't know if I can prove whether or not they would do this to anyone else with a temporary disability.

Other employees who have gotten pregnant have been treated well by the facility, nobody that I've talked to has had any problems, and they think that the only reason I'm having problems is because I'm in the training year, and that's more of an investment for the employer.

Well anyways, I have decided to find an attorney in the area and see what they say.

Thanks for your help!!