Legal Question in Medical Leave in Ohio

Re: pregnancy

Because the FMLA provides for only 12 weeks of unpaid leave, and assuming the restriction is for the duration of your pregnancy, it is not really implicated here. Rather, the issue is whether your employer is discriminating against you because of your gender/pregnancy.

If your position does require you to lift more than 25 pounds then yes, they can stop you from working. While employers must provide equal treatment to pregnant and non-pregnant employees, they generally are not required to provide special treatment or accommodations to pregnant employees. That being said, however, if the employer has provided (or has a policy of providing) accommodations to other non-pregnant employees, then you may have a claim. For example, if a co-worker was ill or sustained non-work-related injuries and your employer temporarily reassigned the co-worker to another position in order to accommodate the co-workers� injuries/illness, then its failure to provide you similar accommodations may constitute discrimination.

Eileen M. Joyce

[email protected]

216.687.1244, ext. 701