Expecting a child should be a time of joy, not anxiety about losing your job or fear of facing unfair treatment at work. Federal and state laws protect pregnant employees and new parents from discrimination, yet employers continue to violate these protections. Contact Keating Law Firm for a free consultation with a pregnancy discrimination and parental leave lawyer in New Jersey.
Legal Protections Against Pregnancy Discrimination
Pregnant workers have a wide range of rights under state and federal statutes including the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD), the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the state and federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Acts. Those anti-discrimination statutes prohibit employers from treating workers unfairly because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
Attorney Chris Keating works with clients to build strong cases against employers who terminate employees upon learning of a pregnancy, refuse to provide pregnant employees with reasonable accommodations, force employees onto early unpaid leaves, or retaliate against pregnant workers for requesting various forms of medical leave or bonding time.
Unfortunately, pregnancy discrimination often occurs through subtle actions disguised with pre-textual justifications. Employees sometimes find themselves being gaslit with fabricated or exaggerated write-ups and discipline, or nonsensical reasons for denying an accommodation request, that would not have occurred prior to disclosing their pregnancy.
Hearing a client’s story and analyzing relevant records are the first steps in exposing discriminatory motives and fighting for justice. Attorney Chris Keating works with clients to construct a timeline of events to explain how and when their employer’s conduct towards them changed after disclosing a pregnancy or related medical condition. This process involves gathering all relevant emails, text messages, audio recordings, performance reviews, witness statements, and employment records. Failure to preserve all relevant records could harm employees’ abilities to prove their claims.
Reasonable Accommodations Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Both the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the New Jersey Pregnant Workers Fairness Act require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees unless doing so would cause undue hardship. These accommodations may include more frequent breaks, permission to sit instead of standing, modified lifting requirements, schedule flexibility for prenatal appointments, temporary transfer to less strenuous duties, and time and private space for expressing breast milk.
Most accommodations cost employers, especially big companies, little or nothing to implement. When companies refuse reasonable requests that would allow you to continue working safely, they may be putting your health at risk and violating your rights.
Parental Leave Protections
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and for a serious health condition. The New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA), under N.J.S.A. 34:11B-4, also provides 12 weeks of job-protected family leave to bond with a new child or care for a family member with a serious health condition. These protections extend equally to mothers, fathers, and same-sex partners welcoming a child into their family.
Attorney Chris Keating pursues claims when employers deny leave to eligible employees, fail to restore workers to equivalent positions upon their return from leave, eliminate positions during protected leave, or retaliate against employees in any other meaningful way simply for using a job-protected leave for its intended purpose.
Retaliation Claims
Employers sometimes punish workers who assert their pregnancy or parental leave rights. If your employer terminated you after you requested accommodations or took protected leave, you may have a retaliation claim.
Potential Compensation
NJLAD provides powerful remedies to victims of pregnancy discrimination in New Jersey. Attorney Chris Keating pursues past and future lost wages, lost benefits, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees and costs on behalf of his clients. In some cases, if appropriate, an employee may also seek reinstatement to the position they once held.
Contact a Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer in New Jersey
Your family and your rights must be respected in the workplace. Call Keating Law Firm at (856) 519-5011 to schedule a free consultation if you believe you suffered unlawful discrimination or retaliation related to a pregnancy or related medical condition.
Attorney Chris Keating represents clients in every county in New Jersey, who are seeking justice for the violation of their rights under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.