I am not sure what state you work in but I am 99.9% sure they can not fire you because you are pregnant. Now they may say they let you go cause you weren't showing up or for some other problem but most states treat firing because of being pregnant as discrimination. Check your states labor laws and ask specifically why you are being let go with out tipping them off that you are looking for legal advice then hopefully you can take that with you to a lawyer or labor board.
Good luck and I'm really sorry!
Danielle

Does this company not have a long-term disability plan? Are you not eligible for FMLA?

Have they given you permanent layoff (the moral standard) so you can collect unemployment insurance so at least in the possibility that the above 2 types of leave I've listed you do not qualify for legally?

If you had options still however, to remain employed that they did not make an effort to extend to you, then you've simply been discriminated against.
Take their stupidity and use it against them in court then.

Well, there were some changes on 2008 on the American with Disabilities Act. All of them favoring employees and disregarding some previous jurisprudence.
Is it really lifting 75 lbs an essential task of your day to day duties? Forget about the job description if in reality this is something you don't do on daily basis. What matters is the actual job duties. On the other hand, as an attorney I'll be looking out for the pregnancy laws instead of the disabilities laws. At least where I live, there's some protection regarding the temporary changes an Employer must do in order to protect pregnant women from losing their jobs. But it's a state law, one equivalent must be in place where you live in order to have a claim.
It doesn't sounds right for me, to be legally disqualified just by a temporary disability which happens to be pregnancy, but it's important to find the specific law that forbids this kind of behavior. You can always file a charge at the EEOC and see what happens there. You don't need an attorney to do that but you'll need one, once the give you the right-to-sue letter. Pregnancy discrimination can be viewed as a gender discrimination modality since only women can get pregnant, so I will go this way with your claim.
I wish I could help you more. But I only know very well federal and my state laws.
KrYs

I suspect that pregnancy is excluded from all long-term disabilities plans due to the temporary nature of it. On the other hand, FMLA requires could give you a 12-week unpaid leave, but a doctor must state that you are unable to perform any work to qualify for it. I don't know if you can get a certification like that and you must remember that under that statute the employer can ask for a second opinion with a doctor which they can choose. So, I don't know if this could help you, specially if your pregnancy can take longer than that.
KrYs

I have not been employed at this job for 12 months or 1240 hours so i do not qualify for fmla or any short term/long term leave.

According to the EEOC they do not have the right to terminate me bc i am pregnant. their reasons for termination is my weight restriction from the doctor. my 15 pound weight restrictions. and unless my restriction is due to a work related incident, they do not comply and offer light duty.

However they are required to treat me as equal to those whom are not pregnant. and there are several employees that are working in my department that are physically incapable of lifting 75 pounds, however they still remain to be employed. I am not discriminating against any one and this is water not to be treaded lightly, but if a male or female regardless of age (although the ones i am speaking of are in their 60's and 70s) if they do not have the muscle mass they do not have the physical capabilities to lift 75 pounds for 2 hours a day.
i have financial responsibilities and i can not afford to be unemployed, not even for one day. the only way for me to save my job is to lift my weight restriction. if i dont i lose my job, am evicted from my house... i cant do that.

I'm glad that you already contacted your attorney's office. This is terrible and it really does seem discriminatory. They said it is because of the weight restriction, but you have that restriction because you're pregnant! It really doesn't seem like these things can be separated in your situation.
I'm so sorry this happened. I hope that your attorney gets back to you soon.
Brandee

I spoke with my fiance. He runs a major corporation here in Illinois and Missouri. Per what you typed and what we have been talking about you were fired bc you are pregnant. Period. You have every legal right to sue that company and you will win. HR can pussy foot around and give you all these false reason but if they stated that they fired you because your physician put you on a 15lb weight limit due to your pregnancy then THEY CAN NOT FIRE YOU. You need to like I stated prior, write all this out. Put names to who said what and give all this to your attorney. You will own that company by the end of this. File unemployment, do everything you would do for being fired, but make it clear to your HR that you were wrongfully terminated and have them put it IN WRITING why you were terminated.

Do not stress this. You are in the right here and that company is going to be sorry they ever questioned a pregnant woman.

Let us know what happens.
~Courtney~

Oh Leaann, I'm so sorry to hear this! They were totally in the wrong...without a doubt and you certainly have grounds to seek justice and be made whole again (agreeing with everyone here). I am truly, truly sorry that you have to endure this on top of being pregnant and have IIH...it's unreal.

You're on the right track with contacting an attorney and the EEOC as fast as you did. Until things are squared over with them maybe after applying for unemployment and anything else you quality for, look into calling around to the Salvation Army or like organizations that could help you with rental assistance or help with utilities. Hopefully there will be other types of help that you quality for in your community. You are already going through enough and having to be evicted and move because of HR's actions is adding a great deal more to your plate. Unsure of where you live, each state has different degrees of help. Some states offer quite a bit and some don't offer much at all, but it's worth seeing what's available. Unfortunately all that takes time and maybe there is someone close to you who could help you look around, the sooner you're able to jump on it, the faster they'll be able to help you.

I will surely keep you in my thoughts and prayers and hopefully they will come to their senses and realize what they did was wrong and put you on a light duty assignment while you're carrying. My heart goes out to you Leaann, please keep us updated so we can help you through this any way we can. Take care.

Jazzy

This is a sticky one, and it sucks that this has happened. They had a choice; why couldn't they have taken the moral high ground and just switched you with someone else for those duties for a while?

The thing is, if you live in a "right to work" state, they can terminate you without notice irrespective of pregnancy. All they have to say is that the pregnancy was irrelevant in making the decision to terminate you; that the ONLY reason they did so was because you could not meet the conditions of employment as defined in the job description. Sounds to me like that is exactly what they have done.

You have some very good points on your side, though. If they have other people doing the same job and they can't lift 75 pounds but are allowed to keep their jobs, then the employer is showing bias in terminating only YOU for that reason.

Your director used the example of a foot injury to illustrate to you what type of accommodation would be considered reasonable. Well, if you had a foot injury, wouldn't they be willing to allow you to switch tasks... or change shifts... or any of the several options they have available short of firing you? You'd already addressed your limitations with your colleagues and they had agreed to help you get through it. Again, it sounds like they do not apply their own policies evenly and consistently, and that is a problem (for them).

I'm so glad you've called a lawyer; you will need advice based on your state's laws. Please stay after that until you have talked with someone. These things usually have to be set for trial before the employer will even consider settlement.

In the meantime, please go TODAY and register for unemployment. Sometimes just the fact that your claim is NOT denied is enough to shake an employer up and make them think twice about how "right" they were in their justifications for terminating you.

We all KNOW what they've done to you is wrong, and we all know it's about you being pregnant. Luckily, I believe you have enough to prove that. This is reprehensible on their part and I am just so sorry this is how they chose to handle what should have been a very simple temporary realignment of duties. Shame on them!

Quoted from: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm

"It is illegal for an employer to make decisions about job assignments and promotions based on an employee's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. For example, an employer may not give preference to employees of a certain race when making shift assignments and may not segregate employees of a particular national origin from other employees or from customers."

"An employer may not take into account a person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information when making decisions about discipline or discharge. For example, if two employees commit a similar offense, an employer many not discipline them differently because of their race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information."

"The law makes it illegal for an employer to make any employment decision because of a person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. That means an employer may not discriminate when it comes to such things as hiring, firing, promotions, and pay. It also means an employer may not discriminate, for example, when granting breaks, approving leave, assigning work stations, or setting any other term or condition of employment - however small."

And more to the point...

"The law requires that an employer provide reasonable accommodation to an employee or job applicant with a disability, unless doing so would cause significant difficulty or expense for the employer.

"A reasonable accommodation is any change in the workplace (or in the ways things are usually done) to help a person with a disability apply for a job, perform the duties of a job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment."

Even if it is a state that has the "right to work" state she has proof they fired her Bc of her pregnancy. That right to work law does not cover being fired for pregnancy. The employer was legally required to try to accommodate her and could only fire her if she refused to work with them. They should have offered her another shift that would allow her to work with in her restrictions. This employer screwed up big time and they will end up paying for it.

"Normal pregnancy is not a "disability" within the meaning of the ADA. Instead, pregnancy discrimination is governed by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act amendments to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and is considered a form of sex discrimination.

The law requires employers to treat pregnant employees the same as they treat other employees with temporary disabilities -- no better, and no worse.

If an employer does not offer light duty to anyone, then it does not have to offer it to employees whose pregnancies may be restricting them in the performance of their job duties.

However, if the employer offers light duty to employees with temporary disabilities (and many do), then the light duty would have to be offered on the same basis to pregnant employees. What about reasonable accommodations?

Reasonable accommodation is not the same as light duty. For this reason, because pregnancy is viewed as a temporary condition, an employer would normally not have to offer reasonable accommodations for restrictions due to normal pregnancy. However, if the employer offered reasonable accommodations to employees with temporary disabilities it would, of course, have to treat the pregnant employee the same way.

One more big "but": A woman who had a pregnancy with complications might become "ADA-disabled" because of the complications. If so, the employer would have to offer reasonable accommodations regardless of its light duty policy."

See:
http://www.employmentandlaborinsider.com/discrimination/usually-not-the-only-laws/

So, now you focus on gathering the name of those employees with TEMPORARY disabilities that were given light duty or reasonable accommodations, because that will make your case.

Does the weight restriction have anything to do with IH? Or more specifically the combination of IH and pregnancy?

OK. There has been so much more I have and I have learned.

Years ago, not sure how many, within the last 8 I believe. There was a man named Charlie Green. 8 years ago Security Officers were not allowed to use the escalators or elevators on the boat. Only stairwells.

Mr. Green had bad knees and presented a note from his doctors that he could not climb stairs. Belterra refused to comply bc the use of stairs was a part of their jobs. They fired him. He found an attourney and sued belterra. He won 1 million dollars.

I now have a saved voicemail from my director stating that they will not switch my shift because that would be an accomidation to my work duties. He is agreeing to my termination. HR did not send my department a notice of termination so I have been able to continue to work this weekend. I am staying over in the morning and I guess calling the EEOC First thing as soon as I get off work. I will also call my ob to revoke my weight restrictions so I can keep a paycheck coming in. I am going to give a written letter to HR notifying them that I will call my doc and lift my restrictions. I am saving the voicemail and going to ask for a copy of the terms of my termination.

So thats where I am at right now....
Thoughts???