Have you ever heard of big law firing a pregnant attorney for alleged performance issues? And what are ways I can protect myself, I don't care if it's taking advantage of my situation. Hard worker here. Please help.

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Is your firm aware that you’re pregnant? If not you need to disclose the pregnancy ASAP. It won’t prevent you from getting fired, but it will likely give them pause.

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It will only give them pause until you get back from leave.

funny

Kind of. What happens is that the firm will put you on a performance plan (something like PIP), so you’ll essentially be forced to look elsewhere. Or they’ll tell you that you will be put on it when you get back from parental leave. But outright fired? No, but I’m sure it happens.

Bottom line is that no one really understands how hard pregnancy is on women — including other women, unless they have been pregnant themselves AND have had a tough pregnancy. So yes for many women during pregnancy hours will drop and so will performance because you have a cocktail of hormones, tiredness, insomnia, and nausea. But most firms won’t care and will penalize you. I’ve even heard stories of people still on track to bill 2000+ hours and have suddenly issues with their work that wasn’t there before.

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Document, document, document. Put everything in writing, and forward copies of potentially relevant emails to a personal email address. Especially note if there were any concerns raised after you disclosed your pregnancy that were not raised before. Also, you can ask for pregnancy related accommodations if you need them. It’s not taking advantage, those protections are there for a reason.

likesmart

It really depends on the specifics of your needs and the job, but the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is a relatively new law (effective 2023) that provides much broader protections to pregnant people than what they had under the ADA. Some accommodations you could explore are flexible work hours (for example, starting later if you struggle with morning sickness), increased telework, or part-time/modified workload. It may be worth consulting with an employment attorney in your area to discuss the specifics of your situation.

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I was not put on a formal PIP BUT I was signed up for a research course and told I should be improving on X points. The review was in July and I am due in December. I am trying to hang on

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I’m in the same boat (exactly) - sending you the best and let me know if it would be helpful to commiserate/plan over message. ❤️

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My last firm did this to someone.

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