The Women’s Studies Spring 2015 Speaker Series presents its first lecture
“Pregnant Chicks Get Fat and Other Legal Discoveries” by Dr. Michelle Deardorff,
Professor and Department Head, Political Science, Public Administration, and Nonprofit Management on Monday, February 23, Raccoon Mountain Room, University Center.
Refreshments will be available at 5 p.m. and the lecture begins at 5:30 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public.
What protections do an employer owe a pregnant employee? How do we distinguish between an employee not capable of doing their job and discrimination against a biological event that potentially affects 57 percent of workers? Pregnancy in the workplace has been protected against unlawful discrimination since the mid-1970s; however, as the current case before the Supreme Court demonstrates we are still not clear on what an equitable workplace looks like.
Part of a larger book project, Pregnancy and the American Worker coauthored with organizational psychologist Jim Dahl (College of Business, University of Illinois—Champaign), this presentation examines the impact and implications of the two primary forms of statutory protection from pregnancy discrimination in the workplace—Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA).
Reflecting two different understandings of the nature of equality, these statutes provide contrasting visions of equality, resulting in conflicting decisions and precedents in the lower federal courts. Both the theoretical differences between the two approaches and how these laws impact the workplace and pregnant employees will be discussed.
