Pregnancy is often an exciting if not nerve-wracking time in the life of a prospective mother. While she works to prepare her home to bring in her new bundle of joy, she may look for ways to reduce her extra stresses in other arenas of life. Particularly, a prospective Illinois mother may look for legally permissible ways to reduce the strain that her job puts on her changing body.
Under federal anti-discrimination laws, workers who require reasonable accommodations to do their jobs can request lightened workloads from their employers. A lightened workload may allow a person with a health condition like pregnancy to continue to do their job and earn the living they need to get by.
However, a class action lawsuit against the megastore Walmart alleges that pregnant employees were denied the opportunity to do tasks under the entity’s light duty program. Since they were not able to do their jobs and were not given light duty work options, pregnant employees lost out on employment options and earning potential.
The affected employees are seeking damages for the discrimination that they experienced, including back pay and other possible losses. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is managing the processing of this class action matter.
Pregnancy discrimination is a serious legal issue for women who wish to work while preparing for the births of their children. A woman should not be denied opportunities to do her work or a lightened workload because her employer does not want to provide her with such a reasonable accommodation. Pregnancy discrimination is actionable and individuals who experience it in the workplace may have legal recourse to seek their damages.