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NY Times Features ABB Clients and Cites New Report on Pregnancy Penalty


Dear Friend,
A Better Balance is pleased to present our latest report, The Pregnancy Penalty: How Motherhood Drives Inequality and Poverty in New York City.
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.
How can you help?

Thanks for all you do to support our work.
The A Better Balance Team,
Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Elizabeth, Risha, Morenike, Rachel, Jake & Molly
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Pregnant and pink-slipp​ed?

1 Comment

NWLCHands-Circle-180Emily J. Martin, National Women’s Law CenterWe get calls all the time.

 
Calls from pregnant workers whose employers have given them an impossible choice: They can either lose their jobs or endanger their pregnancies.
Why is this still happening? Well, when it comes to pregnant workers, employers and courts are misunderstanding the law.
Enough is enough. Tell the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to issue strong and clear guidance on reasonable job accommodations for the pregnant workers who need them.
Without clear guidance, pregnant workers who need a temporary change on the job are often treated worse than employees with similar limitations arising out of disability or injury. For example, many workplaces give a worker with a back injury a temporary reprieve from having to lift heavy objects — but if a pregnant worker asks for the same accommodation, she could be fired.
The consequences for pregnant workers can be devastating. Here are just three examples of women featured in a new report issued today by NWLC and A Better Balance:

  • A pregnant fast-food worker in Washington, D.C., was fired after her employer refused to let her drink water on the job.
  • A pregnant cashier at a Dollar Tree store wasn’t allowed to sit on a stool, even though workers in other Dollar Tree stores did. Instead, she was required to stand for 8 to 10 hours at a stretch — which landed her in the emergency room.
  • When a pregnant truck driver in Maryland asked for help with occasional heavy lifting, she was forced onto unpaid leave — and she lost her health insurance.

These stories didn’t have to have a bad ending. These women just needed temporary adjustments to their jobs to continue working — the same sorts of adjustments their employers routinely provided to co-workers with disabilities or injuries.
Pregnant workers can’t wait. It’s time for the EEOC to issue strong and clear guidance on employers’ legal obligation to accommodate pregnant workers.
Send your message now.
Thanks again for all of your support.
Sincerely,
Emily J. Martin Emily J. Martin Vice President and General Counsel National Women’s Law Center    

P.S. Want to read more? Check out NWLC and A Better Balance’s new report featuring personal accounts of women who lost their jobs, health insurance and more — and women who had no choice but to keep working and risk their health.
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at least 12 Emoji you’re probably using wrong = fun


12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

12 Emoji That You’re Probably Using Wrong

Allie Jones

Allie Jones

Filed to: emoji meanings

28 minutes ago

New York‘s cover story this week proclaims, “Smile, You’re Speaking Emoji.” But are you? Do you understand the difference between the tongue-out emoji and the winking tongue-out emoji? Today’s children communicate almost exclusively in these little smileys, and soon the weak emoji-illiterates in our society will be left behind.

As Adam Sternbergh writes in New York, the “elasticity of meaning is a large part of the appeal and, perhaps, the genius of emoji. … These seemingly infantile cartoons are instantly recognizable, which makes them understandable even across linguistic barriers. Yet the implications of emoji—their secret meanings—are constantly in flux.”

Good news: We know the secret meanings of emoji. Before you find that you’re unable to express your feelings to anyone, familiarize yourself with the true meanings of the 12 most confusing emoji faces.

The Grimace

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

Emojipedia classifies this one as a “grinning face with smiling eyes,” but it’s a grimace. There are shades of anxiety in there as well, as in I get my LSAT scores in 2 days :grimace emoji:

The Whistle

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

While this is technically a “kissing face,” it is never used that way. The whistle emoji is appropriate to use when someone asks you if you ate the last of the Skittles, and you have no good answer because you did. Not me :whistle emoji:

Flirty Blush vs. Pillsbury Dough Boy

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

Two blushing emojis, two different meanings. First is the flirty blush emoji, which is appropriate to use when you are flirting. (?? I’ve heard.)

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

Next is the creepier cousin of the flirty blush, the Pillsbury dough boy emoji. It tickles! :Pillsbury dough boy emoji: Don’t use this.

The Shrug

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

This is the closest emoji to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, but it’s imbued with slightly more sadness. It’s Jim Halpert looking at the camera. Your friend: Did you hear The Newsroom got a third season? You: :shrug emoji:

Neutral

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

This signifies an inability to relate to the subject at hand.

The Overexertion

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

Technically, this emoji is classified as “triumph,” which couldn’t be more wrong. You could reasonably interpret it to mean “mad” or “steaming mad,” but its true meaning is “I’m struggling on a treadmill rn.”

Panting vs. Silly Wink vs. Poison Control

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

The three tongue-out emojis are easy to get confused. First is the simple tongue-out face, which signifies panting. It comes off as creepy in most situations and should be avoided.

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

Next is the silly wink emoji, which means “hey I just made a slightly off-color joke, don’t be mad” or “I’m on poppers!”

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

Last is the poison control emoji, which signifies extreme distaste with the subject at hand. Your friend: Fucking DEREK booty called me last night. You: :poison control emoji:

The Sweaty Smile

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

This is not Singin’ In the Rain. This is the nervous, sweaty smile—the *tugs collar* emoji. Off to dinner with my girlfriend’s parents! :sweaty smile emoji:

The Man Baby

12 Emoji That You're Probably Using Wrong

The official classification of this emoji is “tired face,” but it actually signifies someone throwing a tantrum.

Get it now? If you’re still confused, don’t worry, you’ll probably die soon.

Art by Sam Woolley

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Polar bears and seals in danger


greenpeace

Shell’s plans mean disaster for the Arctic, and our government might let it happen.

Take action!

Tell the Obama administration that the environmental impacts of Arctic drilling are too big to ignore.

Submit a Comment

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Voter poll issues …


As Florida’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi has a duty to uphold our laws and justice system with integrity.

But she could not care less. She’s been selling out Florida’s justice system to Washington lobbyists, socializing with attorneys who have corporate clients under state investigation.

They shower her with free trips, and in return, she’s been dropping cases and looking the other way. This behavior is wildly inappropriate – and a clear violation of Florida law.

Add your name: Call on Rick Scott to set up an independent investigation into Bondi’s blatant disregard for the law!

We cannot continue to let Bondi rob Floridians of the justice they deserve.

Our state needs an AG who’ll fight back against the bad guys, not someone who’ll take their gifts and hobnob with them at island resorts.

It is our Governor’s obligation to do the right thing by holding Bondi accountable for her actions. Will you stand with us?

Tell Rick Scott to set up an independent investigation into Bondi’s behavior! Add your name here.

Thanks,

Florida Democrats