Despite advances in gender equality over the past 40 years, women continue to jeopardize their livelihoods simply by having children. One such woman, a client of A Better Balance, is featured in “The Working Life” column by Rachel Swarns in today’s New York Times. The story highlights how Angelica was pushed out of her job when pregnant because she needed temporarily to avoid working overtime to stay healthy and employed. She and her family lost critical income as a result. This is precisely the kind of situation the New York City Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is designed to address, and ABB is using the law to help Angelica.
ABB client, Sonica Smith, is now being accommodated at work.
But Angelica’s story is just one of many we have heard showing how mothers are regularly penalized in the workplace, resulting in economic harm to them and their families. As explained in the Times:
We know that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act can make a difference. Talk to Sonica Smith, a pregnant sales associate at Zara, a clothing store, who recently negotiated regular breaks to rest and go to the bathroom. Talk to Floralba Fernandez Espinal, who was reinstated after being forced out of her job at a thrift shop. Both women were represented by Dina Bakst, the co-president of A Better Balance, the legal advocacy group that now represents Ms. Valencia, who hopes to recoup the wages she lost.
Our report names, explains and offers solutions to the pregnancy penalty: bias and inflexibility towards women in the workplace that starts when they become pregnant and snowballs into lasting economic disadvantages. Informed by the latest research and by the experiences of our hotline callers, we offer a set of proposals to address the pregnancy penalty in New York City, and encourage the city to set an example for others in the fight against income inequality and the gender wage gap.
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