Pregnant Employee
Toshia10
14 Posts
I have an employee who has been with the company for about 1 week shy of 90 days. This employee recently found out that she was pregnant and returned with a medical excuse for her several days of absence, citing possible miscarriage. The employee returned to work and worked for one and a half days before going home again stating that she was having pains. The employee went home Tuesday at lunch and has not returned to work as of today, Thursday. The employee had her young daughter call in for her and leave a voicemail stating that she was ill. We called the employee this afternoon to ask her to bring in a doctor's release since she has been out for three days. The employee stated that she believes that her pains and possible miscarriage are being caused due to the stairs in our building. Unfortunately, we do not have any other accomodations for the emplyees to get to the office besides stairs. Management is wanting to let the employee go for performance issues. I do not have much experience with the Pregnancy Disability Act and was wondering if the same relues apply as FMLA (1250 hours and 1 yr service). We do not want to create an unlawful termination. Any help out there? I would really appreciate it!
Comments
Hi Toshia:
The PDA is different from FMLA. The PDA applies to employers with 15 or more employees. The PDA prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The basic principle behind the PDA is that women affected by pregnancy and related conditions must be treated the same as other applicants and employees on the basis of their ability or inability to work. The employee is protected against such practices as being fired or refused a job or promotion because she is pregnant. She cannot be forced to go on leave as long as she can still work, and if other employees who take disability leave are entitled to get their jobs back, so are women who have been unable to work because of pregnancy. In your case, it is tricky . . .if her doctor says that the stairs are the problem, and you would usually accommodate a disabled employee with problems with the stairs, you may have to work with her. For the performance issues, was there good, written documentation of a problem BEFORE this employee had medical problems/knew she was pregnant? If not, it is very risky to take disciplinary action right now. Basically, you have to treat this employee the same way that you would any other disabled employee.