Reference no: EM132240741

Discussion :

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act protects individuals from workplace discrimination pertaining to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires that employers with 15 or more employees treat pregnant women equally as other employees or applicants. Furthermore, the Act states that employees cannot be denied employment because they're pregnant and if the employer provides health insurance, that insurance must treat pregnancy related conditions the same as medical issues.

To piggyback on Doak's post, I know a female that had to postpone her Basic Leadership Course school date because she was pregnant. In my opinion this is discrimination because it halts career advancement because of a pregnancy. The Army does a great job in enforcing equality, so in this sense I would suggest having an alternate curriculum in Military schools (that won't be dangerous for the pregnant soldier/ their child) where pregnant soldiers are able to advance their career even if they are pregnant.

If one is the target of pregnancy discrimination that person should gauge the level of discrimination and address it accordingly. If the discrimination is something minute like an inappropriate joke I would suggest speaking to the offender and if it continues let a manager or Human Resources representative know. If the discrimination is severer such as something medical I would suggest gathering evidence informing Human Resources and taking legal action so it doesn't happen to anyone else.

Many companies can consider pregnancy in its employment decision. If the job entails dealing with something that can negatively affect the baby such as chemicals or x-rays the company should definitely consider pregnancy in its employment decision.

Reference:

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). (n.d). Pregnancy Discrimination.