Fired After You Announced You Were Pregnant?

Learning that you are pregnant can be one of the happiest times in your life, and many women cannot wait to let their friends and family know that they are expecting a child. Although your friends and family will likely share in your excitement, your employer may not. Rather than being happy or supportive, your employer might discriminate against you upon learning of your pregnancy. Luckily, discrimination based on a woman’s pregnancy is illegal in New Jersey, and discrimination victims may be entitled to recover damages related to the unlawful discrimination.

New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) protects workers from unlawful discrimination in the workplace. Specifically, the law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees due to a protected characteristic such as race, religion, age, gender, or sexual orientation. At the beginning of 2014, the NJ LAD was expanded to include pregnancy as a new protected category. As a result, it is now illegal for an employer to fire, demote, reduce the pay of, or take any other negative employment action against an employee as a result of pregnancy. The law also protects new parents who take time off from work immediately following childbirth.

If you were fired shortly after you told your employer that you were pregnant, or if you were told not to come back to work after your child was born, you may have been illegally discriminated against.  Even if no formal action was taken against you, you may be discriminated against if things at work just seem different now as a result of announcing your pregnancy. In these situations, you should consider hiring a lawyer from the Mark Law Firm.  The Mark Law Firm’s attorneys are experienced in many aspects of employment law, including discrimination against pregnant women and new mothers.  The attorneys at the Mark Law Firm have represented discrimination victims from places throughout Essex County, including Newark, Harrison, and Kearny, and they can represent you.