3.Discrimination at work
Much of the discrimination that women experience takes place in the workplace. Laws prevent an employer, with few exceptions, from considering that you are a woman in hiring, firing, or promoting you or in deciding how much you get paid.
Your employer may not follow employment policies or practices that serve no legitimate purpose and that harm women unfairly. This does not mean that the employer’s rules have to be fair in other respects or that it has to treat "all employees the same." Employment policies can be harsh, unnecessary, or even arbitrary if they have no unusual impact on women and other protected groups. An employer can also treat workers differently because of qualifications, job performance, and other legitimate business reasons — at least when this does not have an unfair and unreasonable group impact on those the law seeks to protect.
Particular employee protections include the following:
• Pregnancy discrimination: Since only women become pregnant, you cannot be forced to leave your job because you are pregnant if you can still do the work. You are also entitled, if you can still do the work, to the same sick pay or disability that any other employee would be paid for any other medical absence. (If your employer offers no sick leave or disability benefits, you may apply for state temporary disability payments.)
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