Subtle signs of workplace pregnancy discrimination and how the law protects you, according to attorneys

• The PDA makes it illegal for your co-worker or employers to treat you unfairly during pregnancy.
• Examples of discrimination include getting fired or demoted and ongoing rude or negative remarks.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission fields thousands of pregnancy discrimination complaints every year, with nearly a third of complaints alleging that a pregnant person lost their job due to their pregnancy.

But if you're pregnant, you have legal protection. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA) exists specifically to protect pregnant people in the workplace. This act makes it illegal for your employer to discriminate against you or treat you unfairly on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

The PDA also protects you from retaliation if you file a complaint of discrimination. In other words, your boss can't fire you, demote you, or cut your hours after you've reached out to Human Resources (HR) or sought legal counsel to address pregnancy discrimination.

If you are pregnant and believe you have experienced discrimination, you can take a number of steps to seek support and possible legal action.

What the Pregnancy Discrimination Act does

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) forbids pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.

In a nutshell, this means your employer can't make decisions about your position at work based on your pregnancy. For example, they can't cut your hours because you're pregnant or experiencing health complications due to pregnancy — like morning sickness or gestational diabetes.

Other examples of pregnancy discrimination this law prohibits include:

• Your employer firing you because of your pregnancy.
• A company refusing to hire you because you're pregnant or you might become pregnant.
• Harassment, or ongoing offensive or derogatory remarks about your pregnancy — such as repeated comments that you'll be a less valuable employee as a parent.
• Getting demoted because you become pregnant or talk about trying to get pregnant.
• Not receiving the accommodations you need during pregnancy, such as time off for doctor's appointments or permission to keep water at your workstation.

Note: Under the PDA, an employer must treat a pregnant employee as they would any other temporarily disabled employee and reasonably accommodate their needs.

The law outlines specific conditions that apply to pregnant people and their employers, but pregnancy discrimination in the workplace is often more subtle and not immediately obvious, says Davida S. Perry, co-founder and managing partner of Schwartz Perry & Heller LLP, a law firm that specializes in pregnancy discrimination.

For example, sometimes pregnant people slotted to work on a number of important, high-profile projects before their pregnancy find themselves being left out of meetings or important emails after disclosing their pregnancy at work.

"At the end of the year, as they approach maternity leave, their bonuses and performance reviews suffer because they hadn't exhibited the growth their employers wanted. Of course, they had been trying to grow the whole time, but their employers wouldn't let them," Perry says.

Another example might include an employer attempting to push a pregnant employee out of their job.

"Some employers believe that pregnant women and new mothers will be distracted and less focused on their work," Perry says. According to Perry, the employer might respond by cutting a pregnant worker's hours or moving them to an undesirable shift hoping they will leave.

In one case, Perry represented a client whose work environment became negative and hostile after she announced her pregnancy. Shortly before her maternity leave, she was informed that she would return to a lesser position and a pay cut.

"I believe this type of discrimination happens fairly frequently as a method of forcing the pregnant worker out as opposed to firing them," Perry says.

Who benefits from the Pregnancy Discrimination Act?

The PDA protects pregnant people who work for organizations with at least 15 employees and extends for about four months after childbirth, Perry says. Beyond that, the PDA is limited.

Note: Although the PDA only applies to employers with 15 or more employees, state or local laws may still protect you if you work for a smaller organization. Reach out to your Regional Department of the Labor Women's Bureau for guidance.

The PDA doesn't necessarily extend to accommodations for nursing parents or parents who have ongoing medical complications after giving birth.

However, other federal laws may protect you in these cases, including:

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): This law requires employers to offer accommodations for employees with disabilities. This could include parents experiencing a severe medical condition that affects major life activities, such as postpartum depression or postpartum preeclampsia.
• The Affordable Care Act (ACA): This law amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to require employers with 50 employees or more provide reasonable break time and a private, clean space for employees to express breast milk until their child's first birthday.

Does the Pregnancy Discrimination Act protect caregivers?

The PDA does not specifically protect caregivers, Perry says. In fact, there are no federal employment discrimination laws that protect you based solely on your status as a personal care provider for children or older family members, like parents or grandparents.

Yet while caregiving is not a protected class, sex, age, and disability are. So, if you're a caregiver, your employer can't discriminate against you based on these protected characteristics. Doing so would violate federal laws, such as:

• Title VII
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
• The Americans with Disabilities Act

Examples of caregiving discrimination may include:

• An employer refusing to promote someone based on stereotypes about gender, like the notion that women serve as the primary caregiver for children or other family members and are less committed to their jobs.
• An employer refusing to promote the caregiver of a child with a disability based on the assumption that the employee would be less available to colleagues and clients.

How to combat pregnancy discrimination

If you believe you've experienced pregnancy discrimination, reporting it is an important first step in protecting yourself, Perry says.

However, going directly to Human Resources (HR) could make matters worse, says Peter Rahbar, an employment attorney and founder of The Rahbar Group. He recommends seeking legal counsel before approaching HR.

"The reality is that HR will speak to a lawyer immediately after an employee comes to them with a complaint. Speaking to a lawyer first greatly improves an employee's chances of having their complaint treated promptly and seriously," Rahbar says.

It's also important to gather information to support your claim, Rahbar says.

According to Perry, documents that may help include:

• Informal statements from co-workers: Anyone who may have witnessed examples of discrimination — like your boss expressing concern to a colleague that your pregnancy has made you less focused — can offer a statement about the incident.
• Your records of discrimination: These can include notes in a journal or notebook with the date, location, context, and potential witnesses of each discriminatory comment or action.
• E-mails and text messages that contain discriminatory conduct: An example might include concerns from your manager that you may not do well on your performance review because you will be distracted after returning from maternity leave.

Important: Keep in mind that the PDA doesn't mean your employer can't fire you. But it does mean your employer can't fire you because of your pregnancy. The more evidence you can gather to show your pregnancy is the reason you experienced discrimination, the better.

"The bottom line is that it is important to keep records and document discriminatory behavior as these types of situations usually involve one person's word against another," Perry says.

According to Perry, one small piece of physical or confirmatory evidence can help decide a legal case.

The law doesn't require a "smoking gun" in these cases, Perry says — like your boss directly saying they fired you because of your pregnancy. Instead, these cases are often won with circumstantial evidence that provides a paper trail of discrimination.

"A jury evaluating a case where the individual maintained real-time records could find that individual extremely credible," Perry says.

Insider's takeaway

Pregnancy discrimination is illegal under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. This law protects pregnant people from workplace harassment, retaliation, demotion, and other forms of discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.

Examples of this discrimination include:

• Losing your job because you are pregnant
• Being demoted due to your pregnancy
• Not being considered for a certain position because you are, were, or may become pregnant

If you believe you have experienced pregnancy discrimination, a good next step involves gathering evidence of the discriminatory conduct and reaching out to an employment lawyer.