Wrongful Termination and Pregnancy Discrimination in NYC Workplaces | The Mundaca Law Firm
You told your manager you were expecting, and the mood shifted. The good assignments dried up, a critical review you never would have received before landed in your file, and a few weeks later you were let go for reasons that did not quite add up. New York is an at-will state, so most workers can be fired without cause. Pregnancy is a glaring exception, and The Mundaca Law Firm helps New York City employees tell the difference between a lawful business decision and a termination driven by pregnancy.
When Pregnancy Is the Real Reason for a Firing
Pregnancy discrimination rarely announces itself. An employer almost never says out loud that it is letting someone go because she is pregnant. The clues live in the timeline and the contradictions. A worker with years of strong reviews who suddenly cannot do anything right after sharing her news. A role that gets eliminated only once maternity leave is scheduled. A vague complaint about “fit” or “attitude” that surfaces for the first time when a due date appears on the calendar. Federal law under Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act has banned this treatment since 1978, and it requires employers to treat pregnancy at least as favorably as any other temporary medical condition. Firing a pregnant employee while accommodating a coworker recovering from knee surgery is the kind of double standard that exposes the real motive.
The Accommodation Trap
A large share of pregnancy cases begin not with the pregnancy itself but with a request. The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, in effect since June 2023, requires employers with at least 15 employees to provide reasonable accommodations for limitations connected to pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, unless doing so causes genuine hardship. The accommodations at issue are usually small:
- A stool for a job normally done standing
- More frequent breaks or access to water
- Temporary light duty or relief from heavy lifting
- Time off for prenatal appointments
The same law stops an employer from forcing a pregnant worker onto leave when a workable accommodation exists, and from punishing her for asking. Terminating someone soon after she requests a lifting restriction or a few extra breaks is not simply a denied accommodation. It can be unlawful discrimination and retaliation at the same time.
Stronger Protections for NYC Workers
New York stacks its own laws on top of the federal floor. The New York State Human Rights Law applies to every employer regardless of size and treats pregnancy and related conditions as protected. The New York City Human Rights Law reaches further, covering employers with four or more workers and setting one of the most pro-employee standards in the country. City employers must accommodate pregnancy and childbirth, and they are required to give written notice of those rights to new hires and to employees who announce a pregnancy. New York also added paid prenatal leave beginning in 2025, giving pregnant employees twenty hours of paid time for medical appointments on top of ordinary sick leave.
Proving a Pregnancy-Based Termination
Because employers rarely confess, these cases turn on what you can show. Keep the message where you announced your pregnancy or asked for an accommodation, with the dates intact. Hold onto performance reviews from before and after, since a solid history that turns negative right after the announcement carries real weight. Write down who knew about the pregnancy and when. If a coworker received the accommodation you were denied, or kept a job after a comparable medical leave, that contrast matters. The back-and-forth over an accommodation, what lawyers call the interactive process, often shows whether the employer engaged in good faith or simply hunted for a reason to part ways.
How The Mundaca Law Firm Approaches Pregnancy-Related Terminations
Pregnancy claims usually involve several overlapping laws and more than one filing deadline. A charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission generally must be filed within 300 days, while claims under the State and City Human Rights Laws allow up to three years. The Mundaca Law Firm sorts out which protections apply, preserves the evidence that proves motive, and pursues remedies such as back pay, reinstatement, and compensation for emotional harm. Because a pregnancy firing is at heart a wrongful termination matter, The Mundaca Law Firm weighs the discrimination, accommodation, and retaliation angles together rather than in isolation.
Knowing Where You Stand
Losing a job while preparing for a child is frightening, and the timing can make a wrongful decision feel like something you simply have to accept. In New York City, you often do not. If your termination followed a pregnancy announcement, an accommodation request, or a maternity leave, talk with The Mundaca Law Firm to learn which laws protect you and what your claim may be worth before a deadline closes the door.