Catherwood LibraryILR School

Pregnant employees face discrimination in all sectors of the economy; what can be surprising is that discrimination on the job can exist even in organizations that support women's issues, such as Planned Parenthood, which has been accused of obstructive work environments for pregnant employees that prevent them from taking adequate breaks or from coming back to work. It has also played a role in making hiring decisions. Two employees at Naterra, a company that makes pregnancy tests, were demoted during their maternity leaves, while a marketing executive at Avon - which has titled itself as the "company for women" - was fired four days after announcing her pregnancy. At Walmart, three women who are suing the retailer reported, respectively, that they were pressured to return early from maternity leave, were fired after asking to postpone a performance review during maternity leave, and were questioned about their childcare arrangements during their performance review. Planned Parenthood plans to respond to investigate the allegations reported by the New York Times, and will conduct an analysis to see if it can offer paid maternity leave to 12,000 employees nationwide.