by KYW's Amy Feldman

Jamey Stern walked in, pregnant, to a job interview at Wal-Mart in 1994.  She was told to come back after she had the baby.  She sued, claiming pregnancy discrimination and eleven years later her case was finally resolved. 

What did the court say about Wal-Mart’s decision and what are the rights of pregnant women to change jobs while pregnant?

Ms. Stern finally won her case against Wal-Mart (by now the kid is in middle school). 

Pregnancy discrimination is one of the fastest growing claims before the EEOC.  Last year, the EEOC recovered $30 million in benefits for aggrieved parties.  Under the law, an employer can’t make an employment-based decision (even in hiring) on the basis of pregnancy or childbirth.  It needs to be treated as any other short term disability. So employers don’t have to give leave to pregnant workers if they don’t provide similar benefits to other disabled workers—but they can’t treat pregnant workers worse either—and that means they can’t tell them to come back when they’re over the pregnancy.