At the core of all this chatter is also an interesting and unspoken problem about pregnancy and maternity—and the ways in which women who are fully competent to do any job, at any other time—may nevertheless falter or choose to rejigger their priorities for a few years. There were days during my pregnancies when I couldn’t even rinse and spit, much less cover a major news story. When do you think I’ll be allowed to write that without setting back the feminist cause?
So while bloggers have been weighing in on the pros and cons of the Vargas case, over in Illinois a woman received a $500,000 uury award for pain and suffering, medical care, and front and back pay.settlement in what can only be classified as one of the more unusual pregnancy discrimination cases so the bloggers at The HR Cafe hypothesizes could open the door for even more lawsuits.
She felt that her supervisor, knowing she was pregnant, pushed her too hard, making her climb a rickety stairway to a mezzanine level where she had to crawl under desks to install computer equipment. She claimed her computer was sabotaged and her office moved so she couldn’t locate essential paperwork. On top of that, the supervisor gave her what she perceived to be an impossible mountain of work, and fired her when she couldn’t do it all.
She successfully sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The court said the jury was allowed to consider the fact that the worker was “particularly susceptible” to distress because of her pregnancy.
Different discipline
In this case, the courts ruled that a demanding boss went too far. But all companies have demanding bosses, and employees don't always agree what's reasonable and what's not. This case teaches us that criticism and discipline that might be appropriate for a male worker, or a non-pregnant female one, could be seen as inflicting an unacceptable level of distress on a pregnant colleague.
It's been nearly 10 years since actress Hunter Tylo received a $5 million award because Aaron Spelling fired her from Melrose Place when he learned she was pregnant. At the time Tylo said,
I was attacked on every side. People were telling me I would never make it, that I was hurting my career. But I came through all of it" said Tylo, following the verdict, which she pronounced as a victory "for every woman, for every child that's not born."
Sometimes, victory is fleeting.
Image Credit: Flickr member Krissypants
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