Your Pregnancy Shouldn’t Land You In An Unemployment Line

Are you one of many California mothers-to-be who feels as though she has waited a lifetime to conceive a child? No wonder when you learned of your expected bundle of joy, you wanted to rush right out and share your good news with all your friends, families and coworkers. Since you work in an office, you weren’t worried in the least that your pregnancy might somehow impede your ability to do your job.

You simply figured you’d get up and stretch your legs as needed as the months wore on and you neared your due date. In fact, you and your spouse already agreed you would work right up until your baby arrived. You had it all planned and were excited and eagerly anticipating the months ahead, that is, until you told your boss you were pregnant and lost your job a couple weeks later.

There are laws against wrongful job termination

Like most states, employers in California may fire people at will. That does not give them free license to unlawfully terminate your position, however. There are several types of issues that may signify unlawful termination in the workplace, which are highlighted in the following list:

• If you believe your boss fired you as a form of discrimination or harassment, you may have grounds to file an official unlawful termination complaint.
• If you recently filed a complaint against your employer and were terminated in retaliation, you definitely have reason to further investigate the matter.
• If you were working under a signed contract or legally enforceable verbal agreement, your employer can not violate those terms.
• Your employer may also not violate existing state or federal labor laws.

In addition to causing you emotional trauma, your sudden and unexpected termination from work may have placed undue financial hardship on your growing family as well. It’s not uncommon nowadays for both spouses to work full time, just to make ends meet. Suddenly losing an entire income may take you to the brink of serious financial crisis. This is why the law allows you to fight against unfair treatment in the workplace.

How to prepare for action

It’s best to try to remain calm and not directly confront your former boss, no matter how tempting it may be to give him or her a piece of your mind. Instead, you may stand more of a chance for success if you ask an experienced employment law attorney to act on your behalf to request a review of your file and inquire as to the particular reasons for your dismissal. From there, such matters may be addressed in court, if necessary.