Pregnant and Pushed Out?
Federal and State Law Protect You.

Federal Protection — The Pregnancy Discrimination Act

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to explicitly prohibit workplace discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Under the PDA, employers with 15 or more employees must treat pregnant workers the same as any other employee with a similar ability or inability to work.

In practice, this means that if a non-pregnant employee who suffers a temporary disability — a broken bone, a back injury, a recovery from surgery — is offered light-duty work, a modified schedule, or a temporary reassignment, a pregnant employee experiencing similar physical limitations is legally entitled to the same accommodations.

The PDA does not create special rights for pregnant workers; rather, it ensures that pregnancy is not treated less favorably than comparable temporary conditions. Employers violate the PDA when they single out pregnancy for harsher treatment than they would apply to any other medical condition that similarly affects an employee's ability to perform job functions.

The legal landscape for pregnant workers improved significantly with two landmark developments. In Young v. United Parcel Service (2015), the United States Supreme Court held that a pregnant employee can establish a prima facie case of discrimination by showing that her employer accommodated other workers with similar limitations but refused to accommodate her. The Court rejected the employer's argument that it could deny accommodations to pregnant workers simply because its accommodation policy was facially neutral.

Then, in 2023, Congress enacted the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). This law requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions — unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer. The PWFA closed a critical gap in federal law by establishing an affirmative right to accommodation rather than relying solely on comparator evidence.

Together, the PDA, the Young decision, and the PWFA create a robust federal framework that protects pregnant employees from the hiring stage through the postpartum period. Our firm helps Long Island workers leverage all of these protections when building their claims.

New York State Human Rights Law Protections

While federal law provides an important baseline, the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) offers significantly broader protections for pregnant employees. The NYSHRL covers employers with four or more employees — a dramatically lower threshold than Title VII's 15-employee requirement — which means that workers at small Long Island businesses who might fall outside the reach of federal law are still protected under state law.

Since the sweeping 2019 amendments to the NYSHRL, pregnancy discrimination claims are evaluated under the "motivating factor" standard rather than the more demanding federal "but-for" causation test. Under this standard, a plaintiff need only demonstrate that pregnancy was a motivating factor in the employer's adverse decision — not that it was the sole or even the primary reason.

This is a meaningful distinction. It makes it substantially easier for employees to prevail on pregnancy discrimination claims in New York state courts and before the New York State Division of Human Rights.

New York law also imposes an affirmative obligation on employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions. These accommodations can include more frequent or longer breaks, time off for prenatal and postnatal medical appointments, temporary transfer to a less physically demanding position, modified work schedules, light-duty assignments, permission to sit instead of stand, and temporary relief from tasks that involve heavy lifting or exposure to hazardous substances.

The employer bears the burden of demonstrating that a requested accommodation would cause undue hardship — a standard that is difficult for most mid-sized and large employers to meet. Our firm routinely encounters employers who deny accommodation requests without conducting any meaningful analysis of whether the accommodation would actually disrupt their operations. We hold those employers accountable.

In addition to anti-discrimination protections, New York provides important leave rights for pregnant and new parents. The New York Paid Family Leave Act provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of paid leave for bonding with a newborn, adopted, or foster child. Benefits are paid at 67 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, subject to an annual cap. This leave is job-protected, meaning that your employer must hold your position — or an equivalent one — and maintain your health insurance benefits during the leave period.

Separately, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for employees at companies with 50 or more workers. Many employees are eligible for both FMLA and NY Paid Family Leave. Understanding how these programs interact is critical to maximizing your time off while preserving your legal rights. Our office helps clients navigate these overlapping leave frameworks to ensure they receive every benefit the law allows.

What Constitutes Pregnancy Discrimination

Pregnancy discrimination encompasses a far wider range of employer conduct than most workers realize. The most straightforward form is outright termination — being fired because you are pregnant or because you have recently given birth. However, discrimination also occurs at every other stage of the employment relationship.

During the hiring process, it is unlawful for an employer to ask about your family-planning intentions, inquire whether you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, or rescind a job offer after learning that you are expecting. If an interviewer asks whether you have children, how many children you plan to have, or whether your pregnancy will interfere with the job, those questions are red flags that suggest discriminatory intent.

Once employed, discrimination can take the form of demotion or reassignment to a lesser role after you announce your pregnancy, denial of a promotion that you were otherwise on track to receive, exclusion from high-profile projects or client-facing work, or reduction in hours and responsibilities designed to force you out.

Failure to accommodate is another pervasive form of pregnancy discrimination. Under both federal and New York law, employers must engage in an interactive process to identify reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions. When an employer refuses a doctor's recommendation for light duty, denies requests for additional restroom breaks, insists that a pregnant employee continue lifting heavy objects despite medical restrictions, or fails to provide a modified schedule for prenatal appointments, the employer may be liable for discrimination.

Hostile work environment claims also arise in the pregnancy context. Supervisors or coworkers who make demeaning comments about a pregnant employee's appearance, question her commitment to the job, suggest that she should quit to focus on her family, or pressure her not to have children can create a hostile work environment that constitutes actionable discrimination.

Lactation discrimination is an increasingly recognized — and increasingly litigated — form of pregnancy-related discrimination. Under both federal law and New York Labor Law Section 206-c, employers must provide reasonable break time and a private, sanitary space (not a bathroom) for employees to express breast milk for up to three years following childbirth. Employers who deny pumping breaks, relegate nursing mothers to restrooms or storage closets, penalize employees for taking pumping time, or create a hostile atmosphere around breastfeeding violate these protections.

Additionally, denial of FMLA leave or New York Paid Family Leave is yet another form of pregnancy discrimination. Employers cannot discourage employees from requesting leave, retaliate against employees who take leave, or eliminate an employee's position during a protected leave period.

Proving Pregnancy Discrimination

Pregnancy discrimination claims in federal court follow the burden-shifting framework established in McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green. Under this framework, the employee must first establish a prima facie case by showing that (1) she was pregnant or had recently given birth, (2) she was qualified for her position, (3) she suffered an adverse employment action such as termination, demotion, or denial of an accommodation, and (4) the circumstances surrounding the adverse action give rise to an inference of discriminatory motive.

If the employee satisfies this initial burden, the employer must then articulate a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for its decision. The burden then shifts back to the employee to demonstrate that the employer's stated reason is a pretext for discrimination. Under the NYSHRL's "motivating factor" standard, the employee's burden at trial is lighter. She need only show that pregnancy was a motivating factor, even if the employer also had other reasons for its actions.

Timing is often the most powerful evidence in pregnancy discrimination cases. When an employee is terminated within days or weeks of announcing her pregnancy, requesting an accommodation, or returning from maternity leave, the temporal proximity between the protected activity and the adverse action can be strong circumstantial evidence of discriminatory intent. Comparator evidence is equally valuable — if a non-pregnant employee with similar qualifications and performance was treated more favorably, that disparity supports an inference of discrimination.

Our firm builds cases by conducting a thorough investigation of personnel files, email correspondence, text messages, performance evaluations, and internal memoranda. We look for patterns such as a sudden decline in performance ratings that coincides with a pregnancy announcement, inconsistencies between the employer's stated reasons and the documentary record, and evidence that the employer deviated from its own policies. The goal is to construct a circumstantial evidence mosaic that compels the conclusion that pregnancy was a motivating factor in the employer's adverse decision.

Employees who prevail on pregnancy discrimination claims may be entitled to a broad range of remedies designed to make them whole and to deter future violations. Back pay compensates you for the wages and benefits you lost as a result of the discriminatory action — from the date of termination, demotion, or other adverse action through the date of trial or settlement.

Front pay may be awarded when reinstatement is impractical. It compensates you for the future earnings you would have received had the discrimination not occurred. Courts calculate front pay based on your projected career trajectory, accounting for raises, promotions, and benefit increases you likely would have received.

Compensatory damages for emotional distress are a critical component of pregnancy discrimination recoveries. Pregnancy discrimination inflicts a uniquely personal harm — it targets a woman during one of the most vulnerable and transformative periods of her life. The stress of losing a job or being subjected to a hostile work environment during pregnancy can cause anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping, and strained personal relationships.

Medical research demonstrates that maternal stress during pregnancy can adversely affect fetal development. As a result, the emotional toll of workplace discrimination is not only personally devastating but potentially harmful to the health of both mother and child. New York courts recognize the severity of this emotional harm and have awarded substantial compensatory damages in pregnancy discrimination cases.

Punitive damages serve to punish employers who act with malice or reckless indifference to the rights of pregnant workers. Under the NYSHRL, as amended in 2019, punitive damages are uncapped — meaning there is no statutory limit on the amount a jury may award. This change represented a sea change in New York employment law and has made pregnancy discrimination claims significantly more valuable. Federal claims under Title VII cap compensatory and punitive damages combined based on employer size, ranging from $50,000 for the smallest covered employers to $300,000 for the largest.

Successful plaintiffs are also entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees and litigation costs, which means that pursuing a claim does not come out of your recovery. In appropriate cases, courts may order reinstatement to the employee's former position, along with injunctive relief requiring the employer to change its policies and practices to prevent future discrimination.

Pregnancy discrimination verdicts and settlements on Long Island have increased markedly since the 2019 NYSHRL amendments expanded both the available protections and the available remedies. Our firm works to maximize every category of recovery available to our clients.

Pregnancy discrimination is not just an employment law issue — it is a public health issue. Medical research has established a clear connection between workplace stress during pregnancy and serious adverse health outcomes for both mother and child.

When a pregnant employee is subjected to the chronic stress of workplace discrimination — the anxiety of potential job loss, the humiliation of demotion, the financial insecurity of reduced hours, the hostility of supervisors who view her pregnancy as an inconvenience — her body responds with sustained elevations in cortisol and other stress hormones. These hormones can directly affect the course of her pregnancy.

Obstetricians and maternal-fetal medicine specialists have identified workplace stress as a significant risk factor for preeclampsia. This dangerous pregnancy complication is characterized by high blood pressure and organ damage that can threaten the lives of both mother and baby.

Preeclampsia occurs in approximately five to eight percent of all pregnancies. However, the incidence is meaningfully higher among women who report high levels of occupational stress. The condition can progress rapidly from mild symptoms to life-threatening eclampsia, HELLP syndrome, or the need for emergency delivery.

Beyond preeclampsia, chronic workplace stress during pregnancy has been linked to preterm labor and premature birth — delivery before 37 weeks of gestation. This carries its own cascade of health risks for the infant, including respiratory distress syndrome, feeding difficulties, developmental delays, and increased susceptibility to infection.

Studies published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and other peer-reviewed medical journals have documented associations between maternal occupational stress and low birth weight, gestational diabetes, placental abruption, and postpartum depression. The biological mechanisms are well understood. Sustained stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, producing elevated cortisol levels that can cross the placental barrier and affect fetal development.

The stress response also triggers inflammatory pathways that can compromise placental function, restrict blood flow to the developing fetus, and increase uterine contractility — the physiological precursor to premature labor. For women experiencing pregnancy discrimination, these are not abstract medical concepts. They are real risks that their employers' unlawful conduct is inflicting on them and their unborn children.

Courts and juries have increasingly recognized the intersection of employment law and maternal health. This recognition has meaningful implications for the damages available in pregnancy discrimination cases. When a pregnant employee can demonstrate through medical records that workplace discrimination contributed to adverse pregnancy outcomes — a spike in blood pressure that prompted an emergency hospitalization, preterm contractions that required bed rest and loss of additional income, a premature delivery that resulted in a NICU stay — those health consequences dramatically increase the compensatory damages available.

OB/GYN records documenting stress-related complications are among the most powerful pieces of evidence in a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit. They transform an abstract claim of emotional distress into a concrete, medically documented injury with quantifiable costs and lasting consequences. A treating obstetrician's contemporaneous notes recording that a patient's blood pressure spiked after a stressful confrontation with her employer, or that she presented with premature contractions during a period of workplace hostility, can be devastating evidence at trial.

Our firm has experience handling pregnancy discrimination cases where the employer's unlawful conduct contributed to adverse pregnancy outcomes, and we understand how to build the evidentiary bridge between workplace discrimination and maternal health consequences. We work closely with our clients' obstetricians, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, and mental health providers to document the connection between the discriminatory conduct and the health complications that followed.

We retain medical experts who can explain to a jury, in clear and compelling terms, how the stress of workplace discrimination triggers the physiological responses that lead to pregnancy complications.

We also pursue the full spectrum of damages that these cases warrant. This includes not just lost wages and garden-variety emotional distress, but the medical costs of treating stress-related pregnancy complications, the NICU expenses and ongoing care costs associated with premature delivery, the long-term developmental and health needs of children born under these circumstances, and the profound emotional distress of a mother who knows that her employer's illegal conduct put her baby at risk.

Pregnancy discrimination is not merely an inconvenience or a career setback. When it causes health consequences for a mother and her child, it constitutes a serious harm that the law recognizes and for which substantial compensation is available. If you experienced pregnancy complications that you believe were connected to workplace discrimination, contact our office at (516) 750-0595 for a free, confidential evaluation of your case.

Related practice areas: Employment Discrimination • Employer Retaliation • Wrongful Termination