Staten Island Pregnancy Discrimination

Workplace Rights Attorneys Advocating for Staten Island Residents

Staten Island’s largest business sector is health care and social assistance. Its second- and third-largest business sectors are retail and food services. The largest employer on Staten Island is Staten Island University Hospital. Federal, state, and local laws prohibit pregnancy discrimination in this borough and elsewhere in New York City. Employers are not allowed to discriminate against pregnant women by refusing to hire qualified pregnant job applicants or by refusing them promotions or other benefits due to their pregnancy. At Phillips & Associates, our skillful Staten Island pregnancy discrimination lawyers may be able to file a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit on your behalf.

If a pregnant employee or job applicant is qualified and able to perform job duties, she should be treated in the same way as other employees. If a woman gets pregnant after hiring, her employer cannot require her to take time off or a leave of absence (even under the guise of protecting her) unless she is not reasonably capable of performing her job duties.

Pregnancy Discrimination

The federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) prohibits employers from discriminating based on pregnancy with regard to any employment decision, including whether to hire a candidate, whether to fire an employee, how much to pay her, which assignments to give her, whether to promote her, whether to provide medical insurance, or whether to lay her off or train her for advancement.

Reasonable Accommodations

Moreover, when a woman is unable to do her job because of a pregnancy-related medical condition, the employer is supposed to treat her in the same way that it treats other employees who are temporarily disabled. This could entail alternative assignments or unpaid leave if that is what provided, for example, for a worker who has a broken leg. When a pregnancy-related condition is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it may be necessary for the employer to give the employee a reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodations under the circumstances could include leave or working from home. An employer is, however, allowed to deny the accommodation if it presents an undue hardship, or it may give a different accommodation than the one requested by the employee. A pregnancy discrimination attorney can help Staten Island employees enforce these rights if they have been violated.

New York state law also requires employers to give reasonable accommodations to employees with pregnancy-related medical conditions. Pregnancy is considered a disability under the New York State Human Rights Law. Furthermore, it is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to refuse a reasonable accommodation for a known pregnancy-related condition unless there is an undue hardship. You should expect to provide any medical information needed to verify that you have a pregnancy-related condition if your employer asks for it to evaluate a pregnancy-related accommodation.

As under federal law with disabled employees, your employer is supposed to engage in a deliberative process to look into your request for an accommodation and whether it is feasible to provide it. The interactive process is just one factor considered when a Staten Island pregnancy discrimination attorney brings a claim arising out of an employer's failure to provide a reasonable accommodation to a pregnant applicant or employee.

The New York City Human Rights Law applies to employers on Staten Island, and its provisions for accommodations for pregnant workers are more expansive. A reasonable accommodation is supposed to be provided for a pregnancy, rather than just for a pregnancy-related medical condition or childbirth. This might include allowing a pregnant worker to use the bathroom more frequently, periodic rest breaks, help with manual labor, and water breaks.

Damages

The damages that you may be able to recover include back pay, front pay, out-of-pocket costs, emotional distress, and punitive damages. However, the scope of the damages and whether you can recover them depend on the individual facts of your case, as well as the law under which you pursue your claim.

Hire a Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer on Staten Island

At Phillips & Associates, we fight pregnancy discrimination in a wide range of workplaces, and we may be able to help you recover damages from your employer. Contact us at (866) 229-9441 or through our online form to take the first step toward asserting your legal rights.