Legal Question in Discrimination Law in California
My wife has worked for a school district as a substitute teacher for over 3 years and in other capacities in education for the past 11 years(some with the same district). SHe's fully credentialed and has a ton of experience. She applied for a job with the same district which employs here currently and she is over qualified and had letters of reccommendation from the entire deparment. She was not even granted an interview. The persons they hired are not half as qualified as she, I know because they were her classmates in the past and only got into education recently. My wife has worked all over southern california in education over the past 11 years. Not even granted an interview, why? BECAUSE she is 5 months pregnant. She shows up to these schools(to substitute) in the district with a pregnant belly so all the administrators know so they didn't even give her the courtesy of an interview. She is devastated and pregnant to boot. Do I have a case?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Do you have a case? No. Does your wife have a case? Possibly. It is unlawful to discriminate against prospective employees due to pregnancy. There are many factors that enter into the decision whether to initiate litigation against an employer. Your wife should either discuss the pros and cons with one or more employment law attorneys for a legal opinion and to explore her options or she can contact the California Dept. of Fair Employment and Housing and ask that an investigation be conducted. The statute of limitations for doing so is one year from the discriminatory event.
Her central problem in claiming discrimination is PROVING her pregnancy was the reason she wasn't hired. That means she has to prove what was in their minds. Her suspicion is not proof. The coincidence of the pregnancy is not proof. That someone else was hired is not proof - especially if they were cheaper to hire, remember the term budget cuts?. She would have to have admissible evidence that mgmt and interviewers made comments, jokes, questions about her ability to work while pregnant, etc. Without such proof, she can't win a case. If she thinks she CAN show sufficient proof and evidence, then have her contact me to discuss it. I've been doing these cases for years.
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