Happy New Year!!
My husband and I plan to start a family this year. However, I am a
little reluctant because I fear my career can be jeopardized by the
pregnancy and birth-giving. I know there are federal laws allowing
women to take leave. I'd like to know some information (preferably
statistical)about whether these laws actually work to allow women to
take leaves without hurting their careers.

Dear gya-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question.

The passage in 1993 of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) helps
to insure (among other things) that workers who become pregnant and
need to take leave are protected from unreasonable termination or from
retaliatory practices from employers that can jeopardize their
positions.

WHAT IS FMLA?
http://www.familyleavesurvey.homestead.com/FMLAWhatIsFMLA.html

While FMLA is designed to address a number of issues that require
employees to take leave, pregnant women in particular are especially
protected because of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), adopted
in 1978 (an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964),
that prohibits employers from treating pregnancy or childbirth any
differently than it treats other temporary disabilities. Under the
PDA, women on leave for pregnancy or pregnancy-related reasons are
protected to the extent that other employees on other types of
disability leave have such rights.

PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION ACT
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-preg.html
http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeoc/35th/thelaw/pregnancy_discrimination-1978.html


Where the FMLA is concerned, statistically employers of pregnant women
and the pregnant employees both generally appear to have a relatively
favorable view of the laws that afford the protection, and as such
seem to mostly adhere to them. According to surveys conducted 80
percent of covered employers, indicated that the Act had a positive
effect, or no noticeable effect. Two-thirds of employers said that
complying with the Act was no problem. 85 percent of employees
reported that the taking of leave by co-workers had a positive or
neutral impact on them. Conversely, almost one-third of all workers
surveyed who needed leave but did not take it cited worry about losing
their job as a reason for not taking leave.

FMLA STATISTICS
http://www.familyleavesurvey.homestead.com/FMLAStats.html
http://www.familyleavesurvey.homestead.com/FMLAOtherSurveys.html
http://www.familyleavesurvey.homestead.com/FMLAExmplPolicies.html
http://www.familyleavesurvey.homestead.com/FMLAInfo.html

Studies conducted by the US Census Bureau identified several factors
that affected childbearing women?s careers:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0032/tab05.html
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0032/tab06.html
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0032/tab08.html

Middle Tennessee State University Department of Economics and Finance
conducted a similar research study and issued this report on how
pregnancy affected women?s careers:

http://www.mtsu.edu/~berc/working/Ruhm%20VII.pdf

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, while
the number of annual complaints regarding violations of the Federal
laws designed to protect pregnant women and their careers is in the
thousands, this number is relatively small when one takes into account
how many working women take advantage of the laws without any problem.
Of the charges filed annually that do occasionally occur you will note
that the vast majority of those are resolved to the satisfaction of
the employees and the employers.

Pregnancy Discrimination Charges
EEOC & FEPAs Combined: FY 1992 - FY 2004
http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/pregnanc.html

In closing it seems that pregnancy and disability discrimination and
other negative aspects of pregnancy that can have negative impact on a
woman?s career seem to be far less prevalent in recent years
(statistically speaking) than other issues such as discrimination
because of gender, sexual orientation and other characteristics.

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

WOMEN?S BUREAU
http://www.familyleavesurvey.homestead.com/files/Pregnancy_Discrimination.pdf
For a brochure telling you your rights under FMLA call 1-800-827-5335

WOMEN?S RIGHTS
http://www.afscme.org/wrkplace/wrfaq06.htm


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Pregnancy

Pregnant

Career

Impact

Affect

Effect

Survey

Study