Susan, I'm astonished at those numbers. Just astonished.
Especially because those numbers were taken over the past decade, when we were not yet in any sort of recession.
I was in management during the '90s and the laws about sexual discrimination were clear. We had a few times when there would be a wave of pregnancies in the office -- we'd joke about there being something in the water, of course -- and when the new moms were off on maternity leave in such numbers, it was a bit of a burden on the remaining staff. Nonetheless, we knew that it made us a better workplace. And when women came back from maternity leave, they were sometimes better and more loyal workers because of their experience.
Which is not to say that a pregnant woman should never be fired. Just like other employees, if there are serious, documented work problems over a period of time and efforts have been made to fix these problems to no avail, sometimes it can't be avoided. But a 50% increase?
I wonder if the increase is a direct result of employers believing that since they are laying off so many other people, laying off pregnant workers will not set off any alarm bells. It's a sad thing, because in the short run, accomodating maternity leaves is just not that difficult a thing to do, and in the long run, a company is better off for taking the high road.
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Susan, I'm astonished at those numbers. Just astonished.
Especially because those numbers were taken over the past decade, when we were not yet in any sort of recession.
I was in management during the '90s and the laws about sexual discrimination were clear. We had a few times when there would be a wave of pregnancies in the office -- we'd joke about there being something in the water, of course -- and when the new moms were off on maternity leave in such numbers, it was a bit of a burden on the remaining staff. Nonetheless, we knew that it made us a better workplace. And when women came back from maternity leave, they were sometimes better and more loyal workers because of their experience.
Which is not to say that a pregnant woman should never be fired. Just like other employees, if there are serious, documented work problems over a period of time and efforts have been made to fix these problems to no avail, sometimes it can't be avoided. But a 50% increase?
I wonder if the increase is a direct result of employers believing that since they are laying off so many other people, laying off pregnant workers will not set off any alarm bells. It's a sad thing, because in the short run, accomodating maternity leaves is just not that difficult a thing to do, and in the long run, a company is better off for taking the high road.
March 31, 2009 - 8:54amThis Comment
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