Working while pregnant comes with a special set of rights. In New York, it’s unlawful for an employer with more than four employees to treat an employee unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions.
It’s crucial to understand your rights to know when you are being discriminated against. Here are two things to keep in mind:
1. You can request reasonable accommodations
As a pregnant employee, your employer is required to provide you with requested reasonable accommodations. These include changes to working hours, a transfer from potentially hazardous duties, temporary reassignment to light duties, frequent breaks to rest or hydrate, assistance with manual labor, modifications to the work environment and time off for medical appointments.
It can be illegal for your employer to refuse to provide a reasonable accommodation, unless the accommodation will cause them an “undue hardship.”
2. Understand your employer’s protocol
Employers are required to have a clear policy and protocol that allows employees to make requests seamlessly and receive responses promptly. You need to understand your employer’s procedures in depth to make requests using the right channel.
Not following your employee’s policy and protocol could lead to the denial of an accommodation. This may also pose legal challenges for you if you decide to consider alternative options.
Some of the steps that most employers have include an employee submitting a written request, providing medical documentation supporting their need for the reasonable accommodation in question, engaging in an interactive process and so forth. Learn more about the steps to follow to protect your rights.
It’s unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a pregnant employee. If you believe you were treated unfairly at work because of pregnancy, get more details about the steps to take.