Many people feel that they are treated poorly in their place of work, and a good number of these probably are. Perhaps you feel underappreciated for the work you do, or you feel that you are forced to work twice as hard as your peers for the same wage. It is possible that you are actually insulted or harassed by your boss or your coworkers. While these may be bad business practices, they are not necessarily illegal.
If you do face such mistreatment at your place of work, depending on the circumstances, you may be entitled to compensation for discrimination. Many forms of discrimination are well-known and relatively easy to spot, such as racism or sexism, but some demographics may not even realize they are being discriminated against. Pregnancy discrimination is one such type of discrimination, which many employees may not even realize is a thing.
The truth is that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act exists to protect pregnant employees from being discriminated against. This means that a pregnant woman is afforded the same protections as other protected employees, such as protection from refusal to hire and refusal to allow pregnant individuals to work if the pregnant individual wants to. If pregnancy renders a woman unable to perform the functions of her job for the duration of the pregnancy, employers must make reasonable accommodation to rectify the situation.
The protections afforded to pregnant employees are quite extensive, and you can find a full list of them in this article. Like other issues of employee rights, we take such discrimination very seriously in California. If you feel that you are being discriminated against because of your pregnancy, consider meeting with an attorney to discuss the aspects of your case. You may be entitled to compensation.