Pregnancy discrimination is more common than you think

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Another of the stories we're following. A pet store in Blaine will have to pay $22,000 to a woman it hired and fired an hour after she told the manager she was pregnant. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found Pet Ranch violated Hannah Grell's rights under state law. The department announced yesterday that along with the settlement, it will monitor the company for three years.

This is the second such case of pregnancy discrimination settled in Minnesota in the past two months. A woman in Coon Rapids recently won a settlement from a dental office after alleging she was fired for being pregnant. And last week, the state fined Menards for docking a workers pay when she took breaks to pump breast milk.

Pregnancy discrimination is more common than you might think. According to a survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center, on the national level, 1 in 5 mothers say they've experienced pregnancy discrimination at work. Joining us to help break all of this down is a lawyer who works on pregnancy discrimination and other employment cases. Jerri Adams Belcher is an attorney at Wanta Thome in Minneapolis. Jerri, welcome.

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Thank you so much for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Say, let's look at the law here. What does it say about dealing with people who are pregnant?

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Yeah. Minnesota has many laws, and both at the federal level there are protections for pregnant people, both in hiring and in employment decisions. When a person is pregnant, they can be assured that they have a right to be treated fairly and not have their pregnancy be used as a reason for termination, demotion, or compensation decisions.

Underneath both federal law and state law, pregnant people are entitled to rights and protections related to accommodations, things that would allow them to seek prenatal care, restrictions on lifting, seating breaks, and whatnot.

And then after a pregnant person has had their child, they are also able to avail themselves of leave protections, time to heal from any sort of medical injuries that may have taken place during delivery, but also time to bond with their baby.

So additionally, underneath federal and state laws, pregnant people are entitled to the right to not be retaliated against and the assurance that when they do return from leave that they're going to be able to go back into the position that they held before they went on leave.

CATHY WURZER: Jerri, it looks as though the federal law was updated just last year. Any significant changes there?

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Yes. The federal law was updated to provide additional protections for accommodations. Here in Minnesota, we've been doing that. But at the federal level, they have codified and made it clear that accommodations are a right that pregnant people are entitled to seek.

CATHY WURZER: You mentioned accommodations. What are some examples? You mentioned seating arrangements. What are some of the things that employers have to keep in mind when accommodating pregnant employees?

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Right. So in the state of Minnesota, employers have to provide pregnant people with accommodations for frequent breaks, for restroom breaks, food breaks, water breaks, seating, and restrictions. Those restrictions can be sought by a pregnant person without a doctor's note.

And the argument that it would cause an undue burden is not an argument that an employer would necessarily be able to avail themselves under state law as it is. But additionally, if there are additional complications for pregnancy, a pregnant person could avail themselves of accommodations underneath the Minnesota Human Rights Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act, too, as well. I--

CATHY WURZER: I'm-- go ahead, please.

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Sure, no worries. Leave itself can sometimes be an accommodation, too. I wanted to note that.

CATHY WURZER: People who have had children know it's a whole lot of work. It is a lot of work. It takes a lot out of you. What do you think employers are not understanding about this? Are there stereotypes that are leading to this discrimination that we're seeing?

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Absolutely. I think that a lot of times, there's misconceptions and stereotypes about what pregnant people can do. And so as long as a pregnant person is able to perform the essential functions of their jobs, there shouldn't be any sort of question about whether or not they're fit for the role.

And so when we're looking at discrimination, we're looking at hiring and promotion and termination decisions that pregnancy could have potentially been a factor and what an employer could have taken into account.

But also additionally, I think employers really struggle with the leave aspect of pregnancy, making sure that they're compliant with federal Family and Medical Leave Act, making sure that they're giving their employees proper notice of their rights underneath those acts. So making sure that employers understand what rights their employees have following pregnancy is equally as important as to what they do during pregnancy, too, as well.

CATHY WURZER: Are you noticing any changes-- or I should say any additional challenges, perhaps, with women in traditionally male dominated fields? Law enforcement comes to mind. Construction, say, perhaps.

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Sure. I've represented women in traditionally male dominated industries. And I think for me, what I've seen-- it's not so much a change in trend, but it seems to be an ongoing pattern of perhaps just a misunderstanding of what a returning employee's rights are.

And this seems to come up particularly within the pumping context. A lot of times, there are not already accommodations or places for employees to pump in a safe, clean, private area, and so I'm often contacted by employees who have a question as to whether or not their wages are going to be docked if they take time off to pump and whether or not a bathroom is a suitable place to take their pumping breaks.

But what I would say is that if you have any questions, it's always a good idea to reach out to an employment attorney just because it seems like some employers just may not just because they've never dealt with those issues before in the past.

CATHY WURZER: I mentioned in the introduction that 1 in 5 women in that poll said that they've experienced some form of pregnancy discrimination in their jobs. What's the effect on a client, on a person who is pregnant, and this happens?

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Right. So there can be many factors that could impact a pregnant person who has been discriminated against. A, we're going to be looking at, did they lose any kind of wages as a result of the discrimination? Was there a demotion or a change in their pay or compensation?

This is especially true if they are terminated from their position, but there's also the emotional aspect of this, too. You're in a very vulnerable time in your life. You're thinking about the health and safety of you and your unborn child, and so the emotional damages are something we're particularly interested in.

And then certain laws in Minnesota allow pregnancy discrimination employees to seek other remedies, such as punitive damages, attorney's fees if they're successful at trial. So those are those are things that, certainly, a employee could seek if they are able to successfully pursue a pregnancy discrimination claim.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, when you're working a case, what helps you prove that someone was fired because they were pregnant and not for some other reason?

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Absolutely. This is a really great question. Just as a general guideline, I think that everyone kind of has a gut feeling, right? They know when something is off, and they know when they're not being treated fairly. And so if you feel that way, it's always important to make sure you're documenting things, making sure that you're following up with emails or text messages.

Or even if you have recordings or videos, that can be very helpful to helping a employment attorney potentially help you prove your case. And so we would be looking for things that we might call direct evidence. For instance, if someone specifically references your pregnancy in your termination, that's something we would want to talk about.

But there can also be other indicators to show that your pregnancy was a factor in your termination, and that's why it's really important to making sure you're creating good evidence for yourself so that when you do talk to an employment lawyer, they can assess the body of evidence you've collected to determine if there's enough to show that your pregnancy could have been a factor in any sort of adverse action that you were subjected to.

CATHY WURZER: You've been in this line of work for a while. I mentioned in the introduction that the two cases, the one in Blaine that we talked about and the one in Coon Rapids-- two cases in the past two months. Just the tip of the iceberg?

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: I think that this is going to be something we're going to continue to see. Pregnancy discrimination has been something that's been illegal for decades both at the state and at the federal level. But I know that for me and my colleagues, we continue to see pregnancy discrimination cases every year.

And it's something I think we're going to continue to see increase as Minnesota enacts its Paid Family Medical Leave Act in 2026 where pretty much most employers are going to be required to provide paid leave to their employees. And I think that for some smaller employers, that's going to be a very big change and something that they're going to potentially struggle with implementing.

I would say that these two cases-- it certainly indicates that there is an issue, but I would not be surprised if we see an uptick in these kind of cases going forward as the Paid Family Leave Act is implemented in 2026.

CATHY WURZER: All right. I appreciate your time here. Thank you so much.

JERRI ADAMS BELCHER: Thank you so much for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Jerri Adams Belcher is an employment attorney at Wanta Thome in Minneapolis.