Moos-to-be Still Face Job Discrimination.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081101/us_time/pregnantwomenstillfacejobdiscrimination

Anybody who saw Amy Poehler on Saturday Night Live shaking her ripe baby belly at Sarah Palin as if it were a huge fleshy pompom had to be impressed. She's rapping! And dancing! On national TV! In front of a possible future veep! A week before she delivers! Pregnant women can do anything!


That opinion, apparently, is not universally shared. October 31 marks the 30th anniversary of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), which outlawed employment discrimination against women who are Poehler-ized. But the news that pregnant women need to be treated as would any employee with a broken leg or other temporary disability - i.e., not get fired or demoted - seems to have not quite sunk in. Complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are on a decade-long rise, up 65% from 1992 to 2007. And the number of cases the EEOC has decided to take on has quadrupled in the same period.

"We would expect that pregnancy bias would be a non-issue by now, 30 years after passage of the PDA," says Christine Nazer, a spokesperson for the EEOC. Yet in 2007, claims hit a record of 5,587, and the commission won nearly $2 million for women who claimed they'd been sold up the creek for being up the duff. Pregnancy claims are still a very small part of the cases the EEOC deals with and haven't grown nearly as fast as charges of false dismissal for retaliation, religion or national origin. Possibly that's because pregnancy discrimination is underreported. "Many women, especially professionals, may view charge filings and litigation as 'career killers,'" says Nazer, "and others may not be inclined to fight an organization with a baby on the way for fear of termination or other retaliation."


A new study by the non-partisan National Partnership for Women and Families looked closely at the EEOC's figures for the decade between 1996 and 2005 and found that more than half of the complaints came not from the more traditionally chauvinistic mining or building trades but from five female-heavy industries: retail, services, finance, real estate and insurance. "One of the most ironic cases was that of a maternity store that had a policy of not hiring pregnant employees," says Jocelyn Frye, General Counsel for the Partnership.

While it seems reasonable that the highest number of complaints would come from the industries with the most women, it's also true that the percentage of the work force made up by women has only increased marginally in the same period - from 57.8% to 59.3% - not nearly enough to account for the jump in claims of pregnancy-related dismissals. Especially worrying is that 75% of the claims were made by women of color.


What then lies behind the rise? "There seems to be an underlying assumption that a woman will not be as interested in her work or as committed to her work once she's pregnant or has had a baby," says Frye. This remains true even though studies show more women, including governors of Alaska and TV stars, are working later into their 40 weeks. What goes unspoken, of course, is that while pregnancy is a temporary disability, motherhood could be considered a permanent one, dividing women's attention for at least the next 18 years.

Obviously, there are financial reasons why a firm might not want to hire a pregnant woman: her health insurance will be more expensive and she'll have to take some leave in the foreseeable future. Even so, if it can be proved that that's the only reason she wasn't hired, that firm could be facing the EEOC. "You can imagine the slippery slope," says Frye. "First it's, 'Don't hire a pregnant woman.' Then it becomes, 'Don't hire a woman at all, because she could get pregnant and is likely to be the primary caregiver.'"


Then there are the studies that suggest that pregnant women just plain gross some people out. In one, people who viewed videotapes of non-pregnant women and visibly pregnant women doing the same task judged the pregnant women more negatively (and no, the activity was not smoking. Or sit-ups.)

That bias may stem from an urge to give pregnant women lesser duties. "People may feel they're doing the right thing," suggests Frye. "But they're not."

Whatever.

Gee all this angst and it only proves yet again CF people are always the best staff members.

Broken leggies don't want 6 months holiday on partial-pay. Broken leggies, after they've had the cast taken off, don't come into the office showing off their repaired leg and demand that everyone oohs-and-ahhhs over the sawed-up old cast they've wheeled in with them. Broken leggies don't spend the next 16 years of employment being a complete and utter pain in the arse, taking sick days when they're not sick, disappearing from their desks for every spurious reason, demanding special dispensation to have all the best holiday entitlement times, and being unable to stop talking endlessly about their boring broken leg-- how it looked, how it felt, what the doctors did, its current state of being.

Give me a whole factory's worth of staff with broken legs than just one preggo amongst em.

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"The death of creativity is a pram in the hallway"
- Cyril Connolly

That bias may stem from an urge to give pregnant women lesser duties.

WTF? Every preggo I've ever worked with EXPECTED lesser duties, especially now that I work in a lab rife with hazardous chemicals. The preggos expect to be excused from, and ARE, from handling the chemicals. Instead of doing their fair fucking share, the rest of us have to take up their slack and be exposed even more. Wouldn't want to expose the bayyyyyybeeeeeee, now would we? Like it matters...the thing's going to be awwwwtistic or ADHD anyway!

Another one whiiiiiined about doing the jobs where you have to be on your feet for long periods. Of course, these cows expect the same paycheck as the rest of us picking up their enormous slack. GMAFB.

WHICH IS IT, moos? Do you want to be treated equally during your repugnancy and not looked down upon for it, or do you want spayshul treatment because of your "delicate" condition?

Well, d'oh, Homer Simpson.

There's no incentive for an employer to hire some repuggo. Most of them are only out to screw the employer out of the benefits and moo leave. None of them really give a damn about their jobs, and even if they return they are useless as the tits on a bull. They always have excessive absenteeism and demand spayshul accomodations to do their work.

There are plenty of people applying for jobs who will do a good job and stay. Repuggos are not worth hiring or interviewing.

I'd say it's a matter of places of employment being intelligent. Preggos, aside from being money suckers (think about it - they will do far less work for the same pay, and then go on Moo leave), could also be a larger liability. Imagine if Moomie has a miscarriage while hired at a job - I'd bet every last dime I have that she'd sue the employer for damages and/or emotional distress. And this is all before the criblet even comes out. Once Junior is born, that means the employer gets knocked down Mommy's priority list, which means she will take days off at random to stay home and wipe her brat's nose. In short, preggos and Moos become very unreliable. The employer would probably be better off hiring an unmedicated bi-polar.

Pregnant women and breeders bitch and scream for equal rights in the work place, but then they aren't actually willing to do the work associated with those rights. They'd rather their co-workers pick up the slack.

Employer are not looking out for the best interests of the preggos by not hiring wanna-moos - they're looking to cover their own asses. And I don't blame them, since Moo are notorious for suing for damn near everything...and if they work for a huge name like Wal-Mart, they just know they will get a nice big payoff if they scream loud enough.

Right now, I am in the process of obtaining a "flexible" schedule in order to help care for my grandfather. Although my employer has specific provisions for this sort of thing and Human Resources knows all about it (as well they should), my immediate supervisors are all "OMGWTFBBQ, we thought that was only for pregnancy and child-care related things". I may need to gently remind them that if I were to get pregnasty, they'd be kissing my sweet ass for the next 2 decades, give or take. Even if grandpa lives that long, the better part of it will be in residential care, my request is only a transitional thing. AND - if I got PG, that would be my CHOICE. Having elderly parents or GP's is NOT a CHOICE, but it doesn't mean one should not do the right thing and take care of them. It was also not my CHOICE for my mother to die of cancer which is the reason why I'm stepping up to help take care of her parents.

But enough! Everybody pat me on the back, quick!

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"I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is easy and fun as hell"

:eatu

Pregnasty bitches get extra special treatment in college, too. *eyeroll* It's not just in the workplace.

Why would a pregnasty dipshit want to take an physical class knowing she is inept to do anything bc they are so lazy?

PREGNASTY WOMEN, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THE COLLEGES!. Save it for those of us who are willing to do the work, WITHOUT EXCUSES!

Go to college first, get your damn degree, they have the damn kyd. Idiots.

---

lab mom

"There seems to be an underlying assumption that a woman will not be as interested in her work or as committed to her work once she's pregnant or has had a baby"

It's not an "assumption;" it's true! A typical moo is more interested in what she can take from the company in benefits and special treatment. If I had a company, there's no way I would want a preggo or entitlemoo working for me.

"Obviously, there are financial reasons why a firm might not want to hire a pregnant woman: her health insurance will be more expensive and she'll have to take some leave in the foreseeable future."

These are good reasons not to hire a preggo.

First it's, 'Don't hire a pregnant woman.' Then it becomes, 'Don't hire a woman at all, because she could get pregnant and is likely to be the primary caregiver.'"

I can understand employers who have this fear. Broodsows ruin it for all women. Mooooooooo!

Keep working more hours, CF people! Millions of breeders depend on us.

ITA, WaterLily. I see a few preggos at my school occasionally and I can't help rolling my eyes and thinking, "Why are you even bothering?" -- all they're gonna do is drop the hell out anyway, and about 99 percent of these dumb cows never go back to finish their degrees anyway. So, they take up spaces in classes that could go to people who are actually intending to graduate and not get pregnant. And, if the cows DO stay in school, chances are, they'll lug their bastards to class because it's too haaaaaard to get a babysitter, and often distracting the entire class.

OT, but I recall one instance when I was in the cel animation lab and some moocow sat her loaf's ass on one of the very expensive light tables (that other people use for actual WORK) and tried to spoon food into its mouth while it screamed blue murder. Then the Duh came in and held the kid, showed it off to his buddies, and left again, so Moomie could still try to feed it on the light table. it took all my strength to not unch the fucking bitch in the face and throw the damn kid down the stairwell.

Another time, some dumb cunt was letting her kidlet watch Spongebob in one of the labs...the busiest lab in the school. During finals week. Fuckers. There is no reason for a child to be in a college - they are not students, and they are not paying tuition, nor do they work in the school. So, therefore, they should not be there.

Employers are getting smart: wanna-breeds, preggos and Moos are inevitably trouble. If they were willing to do the work for which they are hired, that would be one thing and I would have no problem supporting them. But they do not and will not. Businesses are simply looking out for their own interests.

I have never seen a kid in a collge but if I did it would be a serious WTF?

That said, I love how the author goes so far as to point out that some of us are just plain grossed out by the placenta suspension system. STOP RUBBING YOUR FUCKING SOTMACHS, WE KNOW WE KNOW

"You can't slit the throat of every cocksucker whose character it would improve."
-Al Swearingen

Well lessee, preggos fight for preggo work place rights, get them and then demand every fuck thing under the sun. Suddenly it isn't enough to just have your job waiting for you when you come back, suddenly you've got to have a lactation room, on site day care, extra time off to care for baby, extra time off to care for sick kids, special parking close to the building, a special fridge for the breast milk, extra health insurance, a special friend to tongue wash your dumper, a massage therapist, someone to hold your hand when you come back to work, a party for how special you are....
Gee, and employers aren't choosing not to deal with this? Preggos, you did it to yourself.

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me

I posted this story on another thread a few months ago, but I'll post it again here as it is on topic.

In 1998, at my office (which I retired from last week), my boss (a recently married but not yet childed woman) and I were making up staff assignments for upcoming projects and we were trying to figure out which of our staff would be best for them. We had one woman who began working with us in 1997 and had been doing good work and was a good candidate to be given a more challenging project. So far, so good? Problem with her was that she was a few months preggy and I told my boss I did not want to train her on this project only to see her go on maternity leave in a few months and have to train someone else all over again. Also, we were not certain she would continue to work for us after she returned form her leave, as our division had been burned by that a few times in the years prior to 1998.

My boss agreed with me and we assigned someone else to the project. He was a single man, about the same age (mid-late 20s) as the preggy woman. Sure enough, the woman went on leave a few months later and when she returned from her leave, she immediately gave her resignation (so that her maternity leave would be "official" and covered by our company's health insurance). Good thing we didn't give that project to her, huh?

We sure got creamed from this woman on the health costs. She worked for us for only about 18 months before going on maternity leave.

In the years since then, we have lost a few women who got preggy and went on leave. The most recent one (she was single when we hired her in 2001) got married a few years ago, then got preggy. She actually returned to work for us after her maternity leave but soon quit anyway. In all fairness, some of the women we hired did return after having their kyds but the men have ALWAYS kept working for us after their wives gave birth.

I agree with those who are reluctant (or plain unwilling) to hire women of child-bearing age, especially if they are already married. The added burdens (and $$ costs) on the rest of the staff to (re)train other staff are bad.

I was watching an Alfred Hitchcock Presents the other day which was probably filmed in the late 50's-early 60's. It had a young woman apply for a secretarial job and the brutish boss flat out asked, "Are you married?". When she said NO, then he said he was reluctant to hire her because she might go off and get married and start having baybees and leave the company after training. After she assured him this would not be the case ( since she was really a nun) then he hired her. As she left he said, "Don't go gettin' married over the weekend now!" Personally, I think that plans to have or not have baybees or ANY foreseeable reason an employee will likely miss LARGE amounts of time from work should be considered the future employers' business.

It's really a slippery slope because sometimes people have to miss lots of work for unforseeable reasons, illnesses, accident, or caregiving for elderly or sick relatives, etc.......However, I know for a fact that some moowcows take a particular job knowing FULL WELL that they are trying to conceive JUST to get the paid leave and the health insurance. They will do the bare minimum to qualify for complete and full benefits not giving a DAMN that someone else would have taken the job seriously and performed well for many years or that they are a burden to their employers and co-workers. They further are aware that they can not be fired, demoted, etc........during any moo leave. The law goes on to protect them even moreso if they have any additional medical reasons (which are pretty easy to manufacture, like post partum depression) that causes them to stay out longer than traditional leave or come back and miss every other day of work.

Moocows who pretend to hold down jobs basically fuck it up for everyone else. I have known none who leave their famblee life at the door when they enter the workplace as every single one of them will undoubtedly have a school or daycare calling, a baby sitter call, or when it's old enough the kyd itself will heat up the phone wires. The kyds have doctor/dentist appointments which are during business hours, Christmas pageants which they must be in attendance at 1pm, room mothering duties, kyds get sick at school and moomy has to leave to go and get them and of course never returns to finish her workload, and when they are'nt physically absent because of their kyds then they are whining about kyd problems the rest of the time to anyone who appears to have two working ears.

Moos are'nt taken seriously at work and continue to face job discrimination simply because the vast majority of them do NOT perform even on par in comparison to others, they cost the companies money, and they miss entirely too much work across the board at ALL jobs and most careers.

Exhibit No. 9,445,834 in the Court of the Unreliable Moo In The Workplace: There's a new gal in the department next to ours who started less than a month ago. The very same week she started, I saw her parading her fairly freshly shat loaf around the office. I thought, holy shit, here we go. I suppose that was her passive-aggressive way of letting it be known that her baybee comes first.

Sure as a shit-loaded diaper, it has started. I heard that yesterday she had to leave early because the loaf was sick. For the love of Gawd, you'd think in this time of precarious employment, you'd be GRATEFUL to have a decent job like that and behave accordingly. I guess that's the CF chump way of looking at it. Like Kim said, breeders see a job as a way to screw the employer for everything they're worth, not to mention the coworkers stuck picking up breeder slack. And moos and their pleasers, such as Ann Cretin-Dumb and that other bitch whose name I can't remember right now, wonder whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy moos face "discrimination." Fuck 'em all.