5 Things Your Employer Cannot Legally Do When You’re Pregnant

A pregnancy announcement should be a moment of celebration, but for too many workers, it marks the beginning of a professional decline. It’s a common story: an employee shares their news and is suddenly met with harsh performance reviews, stripped of their best projects, or even shown the door. These tactics aren’t just unfair; they are illegal, and companies that ignore these rules face massive legal fallout.

After you announce a pregnancy, there are five specific actions your employer is legally barred from taking.

1. Fire or Demote You Because You’re Expecting

Employers are legally prohibited from firing, demoting, or bypassing pregnant employees for promotion. These protections remain in effect from the initial pregnancy announcement through the return from leave.

Ignoring these protections is a massive financial gamble for employers. Take the landmark California case where a woman was awarded $185 million after her company demoted and then fired her for being pregnant. That verdict isn’t an outlier; it’s part of a growing trend where courts are losing patience with management teams that target expectant parents.

Washington’s Law Against Discrimination offers explicit protections for pregnant workers. When a record of strong performance is suddenly met with fabricated critiques after a pregnancy announcement, that timing often serves as key evidence of discrimination.

2. Refuse to Give You Reasonable Accommodations

Employment laws generally ensure that workers receive essential pregnancy-related accommodations. These legally protected rights often include more frequent breaks, permission to eat or drink at a workstation, the provision of a chair, and modifications to physical tasks like heavy lifting.

Federal law backs you up even further. Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, your company is obligated to adjust your role to fit your needs. 

Unless they can prove that an accommodation would be an impossible burden on the business, they have to make it work. If you need a different schedule or lighter physical tasks, don’t let them brush you off; the law requires them to take those requests seriously.

3. Push You Out by Cutting Hours or Responsibilities

Some employers avoid the legal risk of firing staff by making their roles unbearable instead. They cut hours, strip away meaningful work, or assign mindless tasks to pressure employees into quitting.

Workplace laws strictly forbid employers from reducing your hours or lowering your professional standing because you are expecting. Protections ensure that full-time staff stay in their roles and project leaders keep their responsibilities regardless of a supervisor’s personal opinions on pregnancy.

You and your medical provider determine when you need leave or job modifications. These are medical decisions that your employer has no right to override.

4. Force You to Take Leave When You Want to Keep Working

Employers lack the authority to mandate leave for pregnant staff who wish to keep working. Health-based concerns from management do not legally supersede your right to stay in your role.

Forcing someone onto leave for their perceived benefit is illegal. You and your doctor decide when time off is necessary based on your actual health and situation.

5. Retaliate Against You for Exercising Legal Rights

Legal protections against retaliation begin the moment you request an accommodation, file a complaint, or challenge unfair treatment. Employers are prohibited from punishing these actions through poor reviews, schedule changes, meeting exclusions, or termination.

Retaliation isn’t always as obvious as a pink slip. Sometimes it looks like being left out of key meetings, facing sudden ‘performance problems’ that never existed before, or being iced out by your team. If your boss starts questioning your ‘commitment’ once they find out you’re pregnant, they are likely building a case to push you out. 

That is why documentation is crucial. Keep every email and note every conversation.

What This Means for You

At the end of the day, pregnancy discrimination is a risk no business can afford to take, yet many still try. You have real power to push back, but you have to use it. Whether you go to the State Human Rights Commission or hire an attorney, the most important thing is to move fast.