Pregnancy and Hazardous Chemical in the Workplace
I live and work in MA as a Chemist. I’m also 17 weeks pregnant. My job requires me to come in contact with chemicals that are known to cause birth defects. I also have to climb ladders and lift things that are quite heavy. I’m also not able to drink water during the day except for at lunch because we don’t get any breaks besides lunch and there is no water allowed in the lab. I brought up these concerns with my employer and basically I got nowhere.
I had a meeting with my managers manager and HR. They gave me two options: 1.) Continue working in the same conditions or 2.) Quit (which the HR guy mentioned that they would fully support if I decided to do this.) I cannot afford to do option number 2, so I am stuck with number 1. They never asked me what my due date was or if I was planning on returning to work after my maternity leave, which I thought was strange. In the past they have waited a couple months after the news leaked out and then have fired the pregnant girl claiming that she made some kind of mistake. Never mind that the “mistake” she made wasn’t caused by her in any way. I’m worried that the same thing is going to happen to me. I did request to be transferred to another department, but was told that I’m not qualified to do anything else at the company. Most employees do not have a degree and few have relevant work experience for the jobs they are performing, yet somehow I’m not qualified to do anything else.
So my question is this: Does MA have any laws regarding pregnancy and hazardous work environments, and what can I do to protect myself against pregnancy discrimination? I know that my employer will use a different excuse besides pregnancy when they fire me.
Answer: Do NOT quit. If an employee is temporarily unable to perform her job due to pregnancy, the employer must treat her the same as any other temporarily disabled employee; for example, by providing modified tasks, alternative assignments, disability leave or leave without pay.
I would contact OSHA and find out what you can do. You DO have some legal rights when working with hazardous materials.
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