• At the hiring interview, you cannot be asked questions about childbearing plans or pregnancy.

• Employers are not allowed to ask a pregnant employee to choose between a lower-level job and resignation.

(Author's Note: The above rules may not apply, depending on the law and the particular facts and circumstances of your case. Always consult an experienced employment lawyer for advice and guidance where applicable.)

Thousands of pregnancy-related discrimination lawsuits are filed each year; the kind of mistreatment varies. For example, in one recent reported case, six workers who said they were laid off after asking for lighter duties because of pregnancy sued their employer in Federal District Court. One of the plaintiffs, a train operator, asked for light-duty assignment when she announced her pregnancy. According to the court papers, she was then placed on involuntary unpaid leave despite the fact that she was ready, willing, and able to continue working and that appropriate work was available. The suit also charged that the women who were laid off were unable to collect unemployment insurance because the employer advised the Unemployment Insurance Department that they had gone on voluntary leaves. The employer argued that no employee is allowed to remain on light duty longer than 14 days, whether pregnant or disabled by any other condition.

Although pregnant workers were subject to poor treatment from employers in the past, the laws are now attempting to put pregnant women on an equal footing with other employees. The number of pregnancy discrimination claims filed with the EEOC increased by more than 33 percent between 1991 and 1995. While an estimated 84 percent of women expecting children work into the final month of pregnancy, and about one-third return to work within eight weeks and half return within three months of giving birth, millions of women have lost their jobs after giving birth. Fortunately, with the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, pregnant women who work for employers with more than 50 full-time employees are guaranteed equivalent jobs when they return.