[froggy7]

It does have a lot of loopholes. My friend got let go after she announced her pregnancy, but she worked in the mortgage industry which is slowing down right now, so it was an easy cover. She called the EEOC, but they think her claim is weak because of the nature of her work. I think it helps protect a lot of women, and good companies don't care if you get pregnant. It also gives you 12 weeks off by law (after a year) and a guaranteed job to return to, which is important. I understand it from the employer's POV, because it's impossible to know if you hire someone that they will come back after they give birth. Then you spent that time and money training them for nothing. It's one of those laws that only works if all parties involved are 100% honest, lol, and how much does THAT happen???

I can understand the employer's viewpoint. When we hire people into the departments that I have worked in, the general consensus is that we want someone who can hit the ground running (because all the departments have been very lean, and by the time we are hiring one new person we really need two), and that they will need at least 6 months to come up to speed. To hire someone, have them work for a month, and then say that they are going to take off for three months, would cause more chaos in the department than not having hired anyone. And then the employer would be stuck, because they only have the funding for the one person, and the law says that you have to guarantee the job, but you need the person for the department NOW...

But on the other hand, I can also see that you don't always have a choice about when you are out job-hunting, and it's not like you can make the pregnancy fit only when convenient.