Pregnancy Discrimination

Robb Bigelow is a Nashville pregnancy discrimination lawyer who fights for the rights of employees who have been discriminated against due to pregnancy. After graduating from Vanderbilt Law School and working for a federal judge for three years, Robb has over a decade of experience representing women throughout Nashville and Middle Tennessee who have been discriminated against.

Motherhood should be a joyous time in the life of a mom and of a family. Sadly, however, many pregnant women and new mothers find the workplace to be extremely challenging and hostile. They find their jobs to be a place where they are treated very differently from those around them both from the men who they work with and the women they work with who are either not pregnant or do not have children. Unnecessary times of extreme mental, emotional and fiscal hardship are often mixed in with times of joy. It is staggering how many people are victims of pregnancy discrimination.

Please remember: They are not alone. You are not alone.

In 2015 alone, the EEOC received thousands of charges of pregnancy-based discrimination. Some of these women were:

• Fired because of their pregnancy
• Never hired because of their pregnancy
• Not allowed to take required leave

Others who filed charges:

• Had employers who assumed that they were not dedicated to their jobs because they were pregnant or just gave birth
• Had employers who assumed that they would want fewer opportunities for advancement or to choose a less demanding schedule
• Were not permitted to come back to work despite being able to

Of course, the women who filed charges with the EEOC constitute only a fraction of the women who were discriminated against because of their pregnancy. Many women who are victims of this type of discrimination simply do not step forward. Let an experienced Nashville pregnancy discrimination lawyer help you.

Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, your employer is required to treat you the same as others who are not pregnant but otherwise similar to you in their ability or inability to work. The Family and Medical Leave Act also provides some protection for pregnant employees and parents of newborns.

Under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) a woman who is pregnant may have up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for maternity (or paternity). However, as experienced pregnancy discrimination attorneys will tell you, this rule is a floor, and in many cases an employer must provide better benefits. For example, employers must hold a job open for a pregnancy-related absence for the same length of time that jobs are held open for employees on other types of sick or disability leave.

As a Nashville pregnancy discrimination lawyer, it is my job to protect you and your family. To do what is best for you and your family. Of course, the cases where I can best help you are ones where a potential employer simply states that he or she would have given you the job but wanted you to be able to spend more time with your family and newborn child. Or the case where a mother is told she no longer has a job because she is pregnant. Ideally, that is even written down. However, while this (amazingly) does happen sometimes, most employers are not that dumb. Instead, the evidence includes things such as deviations from normal business practices, the qualifications of those who either got the job or replaced you, or existing company-wide policies.

If you are a victim of pregnancy discrimination, let Bigelow Legal help you. I have fought for the rights of women who were victims of pregnancy discrimination and have worked with mothers and families to help them through these very difficult times. I have sat down with mothers and families who are struggling financially—all because the mother was fired after she became pregnant. Know that Bigelow Legal is here for you.