How to Prove Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace in Los Angeles? 2025

While we’ve come a long way as a society, pregnant people still face discrimination on a daily basis. During a time when you should feel joyful and focused on your health and that of your baby, you might find yourself facing overwhelming factors that feel outside of your control. Pregnant employees may find it difficult to identify how to prove pregnancy discrimination in the workplace in Los Angeles.

Proving discrimination of any kind is a big task to undertake, especially when you’re experiencing all of pregnancy’s side effects. It requires detailed evidence and knowledge of all of your rights and state and federal laws. Here at Shirazi Law Firm, PC, we represent workers in Los Angeles who have been subject to this form of discrimination and help them navigate the legal process.

Recognizing Pregnancy Discrimination in Employment

While California is experiencing a decline in birth rates, with 420,000 births in 2021, pregnancy is still prevalent in a large number of Californian lives. Pregnancy discrimination happens when a worker is treated poorly due to pregnancy, childbirth, or any other related medical conditions. This can happen at any stage of employment, from hiring to termination.

In Los Angeles, employees are protected under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), which the California Civil Rights Department (CCRD) enforces. FEHA protects people from being treated unfairly at work or in housing because of certain traits they may have. This includes protection from discrimination or harassment based on the following:

• Age (40 and older)
• Ancestry or national origin
• Skin color
• Religion or beliefs (creed)
• Disability (mental or physical, including HIV/AIDS). California has a broader definition of “disability” than federal law.
• Marital status
• Medical condition (like pregnancy)
• Race
• Sex, gender, or sexual orientation
• Denial of family or medical leave

In California, employers with five or more employees are required to comply with FEHA. Despite this law, employees often find themselves the target of discrimination. In 2023, around 2.6 million Californians reported experiencing a direct act of discrimination.

Common employer discriminatory actions can be denying reasonable accommodations, reducing your work hours, passing you over for a promotion or raise, or terminating your employment. These actions become discriminatory when they are directly tied to the employee’s pregnancy.

Legal Protections for Pregnant Workers in Los Angeles

With 21.6 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 births in California in 2021, it’s common for pregnant people to need time off for medical reasons tied to their pregnancy. In California, paid family leave (PFL) provides employees with short-term wage replacement if they need time off work for family reasons. This includes pregnancy and caring for a new child.

To qualify, you must be unable to perform your regular work, have lost wages due to your family situation, and be employed or actively looking for new work. For those approved for PFL, you can receive compensation for up to eight weeks within a calendar year. Compensation amounts vary depending on your current earnings.

While PFL doesn’t protect your legal workers’ rights, the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and pregnancy disability leave (PDL) do. The CFRA allows workers in California to take time off to care for a new child, navigate a serious personal health condition, or take care of a sick family member. Taking this leave will legally protect them from wrongful termination or retaliation.

PDL allows workers facing disability due to their pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions to take time off without facing wrongful termination or retaliation. You are allowed to take up to four months off per pregnancy for things like prenatal care, severe morning sickness, childbirth, or recovery afterward.

During PDL, your employer must keep your health benefits going under the same terms as if you were working. They are also required to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers. Accommodations may include extra breaks, modified tasks, remote work options, or leave for doctor appointments.

Refusal to provide these benefits or leave, or retaliating against employees who request them, may be pregnancy discrimination. After you come back from PDL, your employer must return you to the same job as before or a comparable one.

Gathering Evidence to Support a Claim

To prove a claim of pregnancy discrimination, documentation and timing are vital to your case. The employee must demonstrate a connection between their pregnancy and the employer’s adverse action. This can be done using direct or circumstantial evidence.

Direct evidence might include emails or recorded statements from supervisors referencing the pregnancy in a negative way. More often, however, employees rely on circumstantial evidence, like negative performance reviews after the pregnancy was disclosed, witness statements, and disciplinary actions after notification of pregnancy.

It’s important to reach out to an experienced employment lawyer as soon as possible if you suspect you’re a victim of pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.

FAQs

Q: How Can You Prove Discrimination During Pregnancy?

A: If you compile strong evidence of your discrimination, it can help strengthen your claim. Any written evidence, like emails, text messages, or statements from higher-ups referencing your pregnancy, can help support your case. Denied accommodations and leave, or demotions are key.

Circumstantial evidence, like documentation of changed job duties or negative performance reviews, can help bolster your case as well. Shirazi Law Firm, PC, puts forth your claims in the best way possible.

Q: Is It Hard to Win a Pregnancy Discrimination Case?

A: The outcome of a pregnancy discrimination case depends on the strength of the evidence and the specifics of the employer’s conduct. Proving a case can be difficult if your evidence is sparse, but clear patterns of discrimination can help, as well as witness statements.

Q: Can You Open a Claim Against a Company for Laying You Off While Pregnant?

A: If an employer lays off an employee due to pregnancy, it may support a legal claim. However, layoffs are not illegal unless it can be strictly proven that pregnancy was the reason for it. For example, if similar employees who were not pregnant were not laid off, that can support your case.

Q: How Long Do You Have to File a Pregnancy Discrimination Claim in California?

A: In California, for those experiencing pregnancy discrimination, you generally have 3 years from the day the discrimination took place to file a claim. This time can vary depending on the length of discrimination experienced. Reaching out to an experienced law firm as soon as possible is critical to your case, as compiling evidence and filing deadlines take time. 

If you are experiencing pregnancy discrimination at work in Los Angeles, Shirazi Law Firm, PC, can help evaluate your case. Our legal team handles claims involving pregnancy-related terminations, leave denial, and workplace retaliation. Contact us today to schedule a confidential case review.