Against the Law to Lay off Pregnant Employee?

Hi B.,

I would have kept this news to myself at first especially w/a company going through organization, anyway....

Basically, Texas is a at Will, no-fault employee state, which means they can terminate anyone for any reason, any time the company desires to. It is the same w/employees too. It is extremely hard to prove that they are terminating you for that reason. You have to have supporting evidence and then hire an attorney to represent you, very hard to do. I wouldn't even attempt it.... The Texas Employer laws are very tough to win and it is impossible unless you have previous documentation of all kinds of things...

Since you have been an employee for 4 years, I am assuming you have had insurance w/them? Do you have some w/your husband? If you do have it, then they are legally bound to offer you COBRA insurance, which is basically the same thing, but it is a bit steeper each month. Once you are terminated, (you need to speak to HR about this) they HAVE TO OFFER IT TO YOU LEGALLY within 30 days of your termination (written documentation) and you have 45 days to respond to whether you want it or not. If you are the only one who has insurance, it is in your best interest to keep it. It is high, but it is better than NOT having any insurance. Once you make that first payment to them, then all the rest of your paperwork should come to you w/ explanations and such.

Ask your HR department about COBRA insurance and they should get the information to you. Google it and fins out some more information, you will be a bit smart about the whole process.

Good Luck!

G. B.

Like the previous comment said, unless you can prove that the choice to lay you off was clearly based on your pregnancy then there is really nothing you can do. The fact that your company was in the middle of re-organization would make that difficult to prove. Texas is an at will state, and the company owes you nothing after termination. You should be eligible for COBRA benefits if you can afford those, however.

Stand up for your rights!!! If you were laid off and your pregnancy was the cause then your employers broke the law. Find an attorney immediately. There are many that work on a contingency (they only make money if you do). I've gone through this before and I did well. It's a long process but it's worth sticking with it. If you don't know of any lawyers, contact me and I'll send you the name of mine. Believe me, if you call a lawyer, tell them your complete story, they will tell you immediately whether or not you have a case. If you don't, they will tell you because they won't want to waste their time. Then, at least you'll know instead of always having questions. I'm very sorry that this is still happening....it makes me sick!

I also know someone at Nokia who was laid off while pg. Since TX is an At Will state, there's not much you can do.

It sounds as though you were laid off along with a group of others. You would have to prove that you were laid of as a result of being pregnant, and given that circumstance, you don't have a case (unless everyone they laid off was also pregnant).

I would recommend that you focus your efforts on finding a new job rather than litigation.

I'm sorry to hear you've been laid-off!!! And congratulations on your new pregnancy!

I work at Nokia and one of my best friends that worked here was laid off while she was pregnant. I don't think there's really any legal action you can take unless you can prove you were let go based on your pregnancy. I am pregnant as well and keeping my fingers crossed that I get laid off this summer when my group re-orgs.

Good luck!!

-Char

It is not against the law to lay off a pregnant employee unless the reason you were laid off was because you are pregnant. If you can provide evidence that you were laid off because of pregnancy, I would pursue a claim. Otherwise,look into trying to negotiate a better severance package. Many companies will negotiate with you if they think they can get you to sign a release of claims which is usually a term included in the severance agreement. If you've worked there four years, the most common severance would be two weeks plus one week for every year you have worked there (6 weeks for you). Also, look to see if they provide you with insurance for the term of the severance. I've worked in HR/Legal for over 10 years for two different companies and this is what I have seen as a standard.