The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently announced that it is investigating Google over a pregnancy discrimination claim. In the Google matter, a woman’s internal memo stated that she would not return to work after her maternity leave due to alleged discriminatory remarks and retaliation that she experienced during her pregnancy. In particular, the woman said that she began receiving poor performance reviews and was denied a promotion after she reported her supervisor’s discriminatory comments about pregnancy . She reported the comments and the failure to promote to human resources, but it failed to investigate her claims. She later filed a complaint with the EEOC for pregnancy discrimination, to which the company responded, saying that she was not promoted due to an insufficient number of workers in her area and that it did not find evidence that workplace discrimination had occurred. Rather than accept Google’s response, the EEOC commenced further investigation into her claims.
Women workers continue to face serious problems on the job, including being denied opportunities and pay because they are pregnant. Employees who have faced workplace discrimination may consult with an employment attorney about how they may protect their rights.
