More and more Americans are balancing their work with the responsibility of caring for family members, such as children, a sick spouse, or aging parents. These employees with family caregiving responsibilities may be discriminated against by their employers because of the stereotypes that are commonly associated with caregivers—i.e. , they are not focused enough on work, they are not dependable, or they will need too much time off. This is also a common stereotype for working mothers or pregnant women.
There are multiple state and federal laws that can protect workers who are facing difficulty from their employers because of their caregiving responsibilities:
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Mass. Gen. Laws Chapter 151B
- Paid Family Medical Leave Act
- Small Necessities Leave Act
- Family and Medical Leave Act
- The Americans with Disabilities Act
Our firm specializes in family caregiver discrimination, and we can help you figure out how to protect your rights and end your employer’s harassment and bias.
Eldercare Discrimination
With an aging population, about 20-25% of Americans are providing eldercare, and these numbers are rising. Employers may take negative actions against employers who are caring for elders, such as:
- Firing them for requesting leave to care for aging parents;
- Declining request for flexible work;
- Giving schedules that purposefully interfere with care;
- Harassing employees for taking time off or about their care for aging parents;
- Fabricating work infractions to justify firing caregivers.
If an employer questions the workers’ need for leave for eldercare responsibilities or asks if they have other options for care, this may indicate that the employer has a bias against a caregiver. Further, bias may be found where an employer treats the caregiver differently than non-caregiver employees or holds them to different standards or rules.
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Three-quarters of women entering the workforce in the US will be pregnant and employed at some point in their lives. Pregnant women, particularly those in jobs requiring physical labor, face a tough choice to risk their health to continue working to provide a paycheck to support themselves or their family.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), individuals with disabilities are entitled to seek accommodations in the workplace to protect themselves from serious health complications. However, pregnancy does not qualify as a disability under the ADA, leaving pregnant women vulnerable.
Massachusetts passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) in 2018 to fill the gap for the protection of pregnant workers that need an accommodation in their workplace. Under the PWFA, an employer has an obligation to communicate with the pregnant employee to determine a reasonable accommodation for her pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition. For example, an employer may have to provide a pregnant worker with more frequent breaks, seating, and limits on lifting.
Further, the PWFA requires that employers accommodate post-pregnancy conditions, such as the need to express breast milk for a nursing child and provide a private, non-bathroom space in the workplace for expressing breast milk.
If you believe you have been treated less favorably on the basis of your pregnancy or have been denied an accommodation at work because of your pregnancy, we can help you enforce your rights under the PWFA.
Male Caregivers
As gender norms are changing, more and more men are staying home to take on caregiving responsibilities. Similar to working mothers and pregnant women, men who choose to stay home to care for children or other family members may face negative consequences at work because their employer feels they are distracted, not devoted to their job, or too unavailable. Employers also stereotype male caregivers for doing a “woman’s” job of caring for children and not being “masculine” enough.
Our firm helped seek justice for a husband that chose to take paternity leave to help his wife after severe medical complications with the birth of their first child and again after the birth of their second child. His manager chided him for taking the leave, asking him if he “suffered from postpartum depression” and announcing to his coworkers that he was taking “maternity” leave to humiliate him. His employer then built a poor performance record against him and fired him. Unfortunately, our client’s experience is not unique. If you have faced consequences for taking leave, caring for a child, or been wrongfully denied leave, we can help.