Workplace Pregnancy Bill Introduced Despite Opposition
Source: Huffington Post
When Heather Wiseman began to suffer from bladder infections as a result of her pregnancy, the Walmart sales associate started carrying a water bottle during the day to stay hydrated. But the Walmart that employed Wiseman technically allowed only cashiers to have water bottles, and a note from Wiseman's doctor made no difference. Caught with a water bottle again, the pregnant Wiseman was fired from her job in 2007 for insubordination based on her failure to follow the water bottle rule.
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Both Wiseman and Serendy sued their employers for wrongful termination, and both of them lost their cases. But legislation recently introduced in the Senate could help to prevent situations like this from happening.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), introduced Friday by Sen. Jean Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), would require employers to make the same kind of workplace accommodations for pregnant women that current law requires them to make for people with disabilities.
(snip)
Pregnancy, however, is not considered a disability. Instead, pregnant women are protected by the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which makes it illegal to fire a woman just because she becomes pregnant. But employers can still refuse to accommodate pregnant women's basic, temporary medical needs at work, like Wiseman's request for a water bottle, essentially forcing them to choose between keeping their job and ensuring the health of their unborn child and themselves.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/workplace-pregnancy-bill-opposition_n_1914062.html
I did not know that pregnant women were so vulnerable to termination for having medical needs.
As you can imagine, "pro-life" Republican representatives oppose such legislation for the "unnecessary burden&" it would place on businesses.
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But they're, you know, job creators. So we have to do as they say.
laws that govern ever thing a person might do.
We the People threw off the yoke of a monarch anointed by the leader of the state religion to declare each and every one of us was his subject and declared each of us was a sovereign unto our self.
Later in the Articles of Confederation and its successor our Constitution we created a government with limited powers retaining some rights and powers for ourselves.
It really makes me angry that some would claim We the People do not have natural, inherent, inalienable/unalienable rights; only privileges granted by an omnipotent, omniscience central government.
Now to trump the omni-government that threatens us we close the door to individual freedom in favor of corporations.
They kept taking
First they took our steel mill jobs, and the people ignored the cries of steel mill workers.
Then they took our textile jobs, and the people ignored the cries of textile workers.
Then they took our automotive jobs, and the people ignored the cries of automotive workers.
Then they took our high-tech jobs, and the people ignored the cries of high-tech workers.
Then they bribed the people's representatives in Washington and the people ignored their loss.
And the only jobs left were in the U.S. Foreign Legion, defending the worldwide assets of those who had taken the people's jobs and stolen the people's government.
The people shouted, "We the people are dead, long live the corporation."
And the high priests of Mammon laughed about how easy it was to destroy the world's longest running, most successful experiment in democracy.
And the thirsty and hungry and sick and imprisoned and naked prayed to Mammon to have mercy on their wretched. miserable bodies because the people had lost the very soul of democracy.
American men and women deserve to be treated with justice and dignity in the workplace and thier health and safety must be protected at all times by the employer. Pregnant women or anyone with a medical condition must be accomidated.
Only a Free and Democratic Union Movement can force these employers to do the right thing because corporations have long forgotten that they were granted incorporation BY THE GOVERNMENT to serve the public interest and not solely to make profits by exploitation of people and resources.
I would like to see the Waltons and the Kochs and their like behind bars and all Walmart stores closed while reparations are paid to communities destroyed by such criminal enterprises are used to create new worker owned and operated businesses.
Like I always like to say:
CRUSH THE CORPORATE INSECT THAT FEEDS ON THE BLOOD OF THE WORKERS!
