Pregnancy discrimination often means that an employee is already pregnant and has informed their boss or prospective employer. That employer knows their pregnancy status and makes decisions based on it.
For instance, if a woman announces her pregnancy and begins scheduling her maternity leave for after the child is born, but her boss decides to fire her and replace her with another worker who won’t need maternity leave, that can be an example of discrimination. Another example is if a woman who is pregnant is interviewing for a job and is clearly the best candidate, but she is passed over deliberately because she is already pregnant.
But one interesting thing to keep in mind is that you could technically face discrimination without being pregnant at all. How could that happen?
Childbearing age
The problem comes when employers discriminate against women who are of childbearing age. Essentially, the employer is assuming that the woman will become pregnant in the near future and discriminating against her on those grounds, even if it hasn’t happened yet.
Say that two people interview for a job. One is a single woman in her 50s who isn’t very qualified for the position. But she’s hired over a young woman in her 20s who recently got married. The employer’s reasoning is that the younger, newly-married woman may decide to start a family in the next few years, so the employer discriminates against her—even though she is the better-qualified candidate and she isn’t even pregnant at the time.
Issues like this can be very complex, and it’s important for employees to understand all of their rights.