Three-quarters of women entering the workforce will become pregnant on the job yet huge gaps in civil rights laws leave some women without any protection. While federal and state laws ban discrimination against pregnant women in the workplace, employers are not obligated to accommodate most pregnant workers legally. As a result, thousands of pregnant women are pushed out of jobs after requesting a simple accommodation to maintain a healthy pregnancy, while others are either put on unpaid leave or simply fired. Still, few people realize that getting pregnant can still mean losing your job.
The first guests on ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ were Co-President Dina Bakst and Senior Staff Attorney Phoebe Taubman of A Better Balance—which works to combat discrimination and advance family-friendly public policies at the local, state and federal levels.
DINA BAKST“I was expecting my 3rd child and trying to balance work and family. I thought if it’s hard for me, how hard is it for women who are one paycheck away from homelessness.”
“’If you want equality die childless at 30’ is one of my favorite quotes. When women become pregnant it’s a key trigger for losing their job.”
“12-13% of workers have access to paid leave.”
“We need men to take advantage of paid leave too.”
“This is not just a woman’s issue.”
“Our client was experience pregnancy complications working the deli dept. at Kroger. She was fired for being pregnant. It was devastating.”
“The Pregnancy Discrimination Act fights against treating pregnant woman like second class citizens.”
“The DOJ just sided with us for a policewoman in KY. She was pregnant and sent home. She lost her child and lost her health insurance.”
“Now Florence, KY has to overhaul their pregnancy law to ensure illegal discrimination doesn’t happen again.”
“States have been laboratories for change.”
“NYC Paid Sick Time Law went into affect years ago. Same with the Pregnancy Accommodation Law. Since 2013 5 states have passed similar laws.”
“Employees understand smart economics to keep pregnant woman happy and in the workforce. They stay attached to their job.”
“When you treat workers as human beings it promotes productivity.”
“It’s important to develop good policy to understand the demands.”
“Employers will bring in temps so they’re not double paying.”
“There’s bi-partisan support from around the country. We know that on some issues we’re really going to have to fight.”
“Ignorance is a huge barrier to justice. We help people be armed with their rights.”
PHOEBE TAUBMAN“I met Dina when they were just launching the organization.”
“There are solutions beyond what employers decide to do for their employees.”
“I’ve been a part of a growth of the organization and the movement.”
“Family responsibility describes bias or penalization for caring for family members.”
“There’s no one federal law on the books that says family discrimination is illegal.”
“There’s been a growth of states and cities creating family laws.”
“For women applying for a job while pregnant can be a tightrope to walk. Know your rights first.”
“You don’t want to put yourself in a position where people are judging you for your pregnancy and not your work.”
“We always advice folks to create a timeline of inappropriate discrimination in the workplace.”
“Do you remember somebody being treated better or worse than you based on your pregnancy?
“We have a hotline where we receive calls from people in a moment of crisis.”
“We encourage people to get in touch with a local lawyer because the claims that might apply to you depend where you work.”
“There’s a gap in the parenting literature. You can find the gear to buy, but nothing about workplace rights. We tried to lay out the law with Babygate.”
The friendship bracelet has now made it into the 21st Century with the launch of Jewelbots—a friendship bracelet that teaches coding through programmable secret messages. Sounds amazing, right? And one of the best parts of Jewelbots is their amazing community manager and resident teen, 18-year-old Quymbee Chen were with Randi today, along with co-founder and COO Brooke Moreland, to discuss Jewelbots.
“I’m helping the use cases being developed.”
“You can have the Jewelbots light up for social media messages or when your friends are nearby.”
“My job impresses a lot of my friends. The experience is very valuable and I support the company 100%.”
“I like working full time on something I love.”
“I focus on social media. All of the things a teenager is natural at. I also write instructions and web content so it’s teen friendly.”
“Taking a gap year was unexpected for me. I applied for college but after being waitlisted at NYU, I decided why go to a school I don’t want to go to when I could work.”
“When there’s opportunities presented to you, it’s always a great idea to weigh the options.”
BROOKE MORELAND“My co-founder has been teaching women to code for years.”
“Now that tech is part of all of our lives, if you can code you can do lots of things.”
“You don’t need any coding experience to use them.”
“We’re a small team. We have other startups next to us.”
“A lot of people are making products for people who are like them. Having Quymbee in our office really helps.”
“We contacted our friends who have younger kids and watched them interact.”
“There’s a lot of stuff for little girls like baby dolls and kitchen sets that encourage a future life as a caretaker.”
“After baby dolls and before you buy CDs and makeup there’s a huge gap for girl toys.”
“We wanted something for coding and we wanted it to be a wearable.”
“I love crowdfunding. It’s a great way to see if you’re product has any interest.”
“We spent 6 months getting the message completed before putting it up on Kickstarter.”
Join ‘Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg’ every Wednesday to hear the latest and greatest in tech, entrepreneurialism, and business. Only on SiriusXM Channel 111 at 12pmET/ 9am PT
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