Teresa Lehman was known to be in the top 10 candidates for a promotion at Kohl's Department Store where she worked as an assistant manager for 10 years. She did not get the promotion, however, because she was pregnant. Teresa's bosses repeatedly asked her questions such as, "Did you get your tubes tied," "I thought you couldn't have any more kids," "You're not going to have any more kids again, are you?" and more.
It is also known that Teresa had plenty of opportunities to be given higher positions in the company and were given to less-qualified employees that were either male or had convinced their bosses that there would be no chance of pregnancies in the future. This happened even though her bosses had told Teresa on more than one occasion that she was clearly manager material.
This is completely in violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) which prevents employers from discriminating against pregnancies, being a parent, etc. Thankfully the courts agreed with Lehman and Kohl's had to pay $2.1 million.
I think more of these types of discriminations happen in companies and workplaces than people are aware of. Is there any sensible reason for an employer to discriminate against women this way? I say absolutely not! If employers were allowed to do these types of things, it would be making women chose between working or having a family and this is not fair. Women's rights would basically be non-existent and the entire work force would be dominated by males. The whole point of "bring your daughter to work day" is to show young girls that women can do the same jobs as men can and have all the same opportunities. The manager at Kohl's is sending the message that this is not the case. Why should women lose the rights the women before us have worked so hard to earn? This is unfair and must stop immediately.
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