Firing a pregnant worker, or a worker who has just returned from maternity leave, exposes an employer to overlapping federal, state, and local liability that has expanded significantly in the past few years. The protections available to workers in New York and New Jersey are among the strongest in the country, and the trap employers most often fall into is assuming the law still works the way it did a decade ago.
The federal floor
Three federal statutes matter most.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k), amends Title VII to prohibit discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Firing a worker because she is pregnant, or because she plans to take maternity leave, is straightforward sex discrimination under this framework.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, enacted in 2022 and effective in 2023, 42 U.S.C. § 2000gg et seq., requires covered employers (15 or more employees) to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, absent undue hardship. This changed the landscape. The PWFA rejected the older approach under Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 575 U.S. 206 (2015), which had required pregnant workers to identify similarly situated non-pregnant workers who had been accommodated. Under the PWFA, the accommodation duty is affirmative and independent.
The Family and Medical Leave Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., entitles eligible workers at employers with 50 or more employees within 75 miles to up to twelve workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth of a child and for the worker’s own serious health condition, including pregnancy-related conditions.
The New York and New York City protections are broader
Workers in New York get more, on top of the federal floor.
The New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(3), prohibits pregnancy discrimination and requires reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions. Unlike the federal PDA, the NYSHRL’s accommodation duty has applied since 2016 amendments — well before the federal PWFA.
New York Paid Family Leave, codified in the Workers’ Compensation Law, provides up to twelve weeks of paid, job-protected leave for the birth of a child, adoption, foster placement, or care for a family member’s serious health condition. Coverage is broad — most private-sector workers in New York with a qualifying employment relationship are eligible — and the paid benefit is funded through employee payroll contributions to a state-administered insurance program. PFL itself does not clearly support a direct private right of action for damages, and enforcement runs primarily through the state insurance program and administrative proceedings. The same conduct — a termination, demotion, or denial of reinstatement in connection with a PFL leave — often gives rise to independently actionable claims under the NYSHRL, the NYCHRL, the FMLA, and related statutes.
The New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 8-107(22), requires accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions on terms even more worker-protective than the state law, including a broad definition of what counts as a reasonable accommodation.
New Jersey
The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. 10:5-12(s), prohibits pregnancy discrimination and, since 2014 amendments, requires reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions with an affirmative obligation on the employer. The NJLAD’s accommodation duties are extensive — modified work schedules, temporary transfer to less strenuous work, more frequent breaks, help with manual labor, and time off for prenatal care are all recognized.
The New Jersey Family Leave Act, N.J.S.A. 34:11B-1 et seq., provides up to twelve weeks of job-protected leave for bonding with a new child or caring for a family member. Unlike the FMLA, the NJFLA does not cover the worker’s own serious health condition — but New Jersey provides temporary disability insurance and family leave insurance benefits that offer wage replacement during pregnancy-related disability and bonding leave.
Common patterns of unlawful conduct
The recurring scenarios that produce cases:
Termination shortly after announcing a pregnancy. The employer will usually claim the timing is a coincidence — a reorganization, a performance issue, a business need. Under Title VII, the NYSHRL, the NYCHRL, and the NJLAD, timing is powerful circumstantial evidence.
Denial of a requested accommodation. A pregnant worker asks for a stool, more frequent bathroom breaks, a temporary transfer out of a physically demanding role, or time off for prenatal appointments. Under the PWFA, PDA, NYSHRL, NYCHRL, and NJLAD, employers must engage in an interactive process and provide reasonable accommodations unless doing so would be an undue hardship. A flat refusal, or the “we don’t do that here” response, is usually unlawful.
Refusal to allow return to the same position after leave. The FMLA, NJFLA, and NY Paid Family Leave all guarantee reinstatement to the same or an equivalent position, with the same pay and benefits, after covered leave. A “we filled your role” response often violates the law.
Demotion, pay cut, or restructuring during or after leave. Employers sometimes wait for a maternity leave to make changes they would not have made otherwise. A position that is quietly restructured to be less prestigious, less compensated, or lower on the org chart, and offered to the returning worker as “the same job,” is often a demotion in fact and may violate FMLA and PFL reinstatement rights as well as state and local antidiscrimination law.
Retaliation for asking about pregnancy accommodations or leave. Retaliating against a worker for asserting rights under the PWFA, FMLA, PFL, NYSHRL, NYCHRL, or NJLAD is separately actionable and often produces stronger claims than the underlying denial.
Refusal to accommodate lactation. The PUMP Act, 29 U.S.C. § 218d, expanded federal lactation-accommodation requirements in 2022. New York and New Jersey have parallel and, in some respects, broader requirements.
What courts look at
In pregnancy cases, courts and juries generally focus on:
- The timing between the pregnancy announcement (or leave request) and the adverse action.
- Whether the employer engaged in a good-faith interactive process about accommodations.
- Whether the employer’s stated reason for the termination or demotion has documentation predating the pregnancy.
- Comparators — whether non-pregnant workers with similar performance histories were treated the same way.
- Statements made by supervisors or HR about the pregnancy, leave, or return date, no matter how casually offered.
Emails and Slack messages in which supervisors express frustration about the leave, discuss “backfilling,” or reference the worker’s post-leave availability are frequent smoking guns produced in discovery.
What to do
If you were fired, demoted, denied return from leave, or denied accommodation:
- Preserve documentation. Save emails, texts, and messages related to your pregnancy, leave, accommodation requests, and any negative treatment. Forward relevant records from work accounts to a personal account you control.
- Do not sign a severance or release at the moment of termination. Nearly every pregnancy-related termination comes with a paper offering the worker something in exchange for a release of claims. Take it home.
- File for state disability, paid family leave, or unemployment as appropriate to your situation. These are separate from any discrimination claim and do not waive your rights.
- Note the deadlines. Title VII, PDA, and PWFA claims generally require an EEOC charge within 300 days in New York and New Jersey. FMLA claims have a two-year (or three-year for willful violations) limitations period. NYSHRL and NYCHRL civil actions generally have three years. NJLAD claims generally have two years. New York PFL benefit denials have their own claim procedures with tighter deadlines.
- Talk to a lawyer promptly. The number of overlapping statutes means the strategy differs significantly from case to case. What works for a FMLA claim may not be optimal for a PWFA claim, and the choice of forum can affect damages.
If you were fired, demoted, or denied accommodations related to pregnancy or maternity leave in New York or New Jersey, contact Fingerhut Law for a confidential consultation.
Attorney Advertising Disclaimer: This article is attorney advertising and is provided for general informational purposes only. It does not create an attorney-client relationship and is not legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.