Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer in Davis, California
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What California Law Considers Pregnancy Discrimination
California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code § 12940(a), prohibits employers with five or more employees from discriminating against workers based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions in every aspect of employment, from the initial hiring decision through termination. The Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL), Government Code § 12945, separately requires those same employers to provide up to four months of job-protected leave and reasonable accommodations, available from an employee’s very first day of work. If your employer violated either obligation, you have up to three years to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), but acting promptly protects your evidence and keeps every option open.
How FEHA’s Definition Is Broader Than Most Employees Realize
Many Davis workers assume pregnancy discrimination means only one thing: being fired the week after announcing a pregnancy. FEHA’s coverage is considerably wider. The phrase “related medical conditions” in § 12940(a) sweeps in diagnoses and complications that arise during or after pregnancy, including gestational diabetes, hyperemesis gravidarum, postpartum conditions, and similar health issues. An employer who cuts hours after learning about a high-risk pregnancy, denies a promotion to someone recovering from a postpartum complication, or reassigns work because of a pregnancy-related diagnosis is engaging in conduct that § 12940(a) expressly prohibits. If you are uncertain whether your specific situation qualifies, that uncertainty itself is a reason to consult a pregnancy discrimination lawyer in Davis.
Your Right to Pregnancy Disability Leave Under California Law
Government Code § 12945 entitles employees to up to four months of job-protected Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) when a pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition makes them unable to perform their regular duties. Two features of PDL surprise employees most often:
- No waiting period. PDL is available from the first day of employment. There is no minimum tenure and no hours-worked threshold.
- Coverage at smaller employers. Because the five-employee threshold is so low, the vast majority of Davis-area employers are covered.
PDL is unpaid leave unless the employee uses accrued paid time off (vacation, paid sick time, or paid personal time) or qualifies for California State Disability Insurance (SDI) benefits through the Employment Development Department.
Can Your Employer Refuse to Hold Your Job While You Are on PDL?
Generally, no. PDL is job-protected, meaning the employer must return the employee to the same position she held before the leave. A frequent employer tactic is to claim the position was “eliminated” while the employee was out. Under FEHA’s framework, the burden falls on the employer to demonstrate that any elimination was entirely unrelated to the leave. An employer who fills the role permanently and then refuses reinstatement faces liability not only for the original termination but potentially for retaliation under § 12940(h). If this describes your situation, documenting the timeline precisely is critical.
Reasonable Accommodations Your Employer Must Provide
Government Code § 12945(a)(3)(A) makes it unlawful for a covered employer to refuse a reasonable accommodation for a condition related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition once an employee requests one with the advice of a health care provider. Verified examples of qualifying accommodations under the statute include:
- Modified or lighter work duties
- More frequent rest or bathroom breaks
- Permission to sit rather than stand
- A temporary transfer to a less strenuous or less hazardous position
- An adjusted or reduced work schedule
An employer may refuse only by proving that providing the accommodation would impose an undue hardship, a high evidentiary bar requiring proof of significant difficulty or expense specific to that business. In Lopez v. La Casa de Las Madres (2023) 89 Cal.App.5th 365, 370-371, the California Court of Appeal confirmed that a failure-to-accommodate claim under § 12945(a)(3)(A) requires proof of four elements: (1) the plaintiff had a condition related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition; (2) the plaintiff requested an accommodation with the advice of a health care provider; (3) the employer refused to provide a reasonable accommodation; and (4) with the accommodation, the plaintiff could have performed the essential functions of the job.
For more on how courts and the CRD evaluate what you will need to establish, see our guide on how to prove pregnancy discrimination at work.
What Happens If Your Employer Ignores Your Accommodation Request
Government Code § 12940(n) independently requires employers to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process with any employee who requests an accommodation for a known medical condition, including pregnancy-related conditions. An employer who simply goes silent after receiving a request, never responds, or says only “we’ll look into it” without follow-through is violating § 12940(n) as a standalone matter, separate from whether the accommodation itself was granted or denied. Courts treat silence as refusal.
Common Employer Defenses to Pregnancy Discrimination Claims and How California Law Responds
|
Employer Defense |
How California Law Responds
|
|---|---|
|
“We fired you for performance reasons, not pregnancy.” |
Under FEHA § 12940(a), if pregnancy was a motivating reason, not necessarily the only reason, the employer can still be liable. Suspicious timing (termination shortly after announcing pregnancy or requesting leave) is evidence a jury weighs. Preserve every performance review and any positive feedback received before and after disclosing the pregnancy. |
|
“We don’t have to give you light duty. That’s a special privilege.” |
Under § 12945(a)(3)(A), reasonable accommodation for a pregnancy-related condition is a legal right, not a favor. The employer must deny it on undue-hardship grounds with actual proof, not a blanket policy statement. |
|
“Your position was eliminated while you were on leave.” |
Job-protected leave under § 12945 carries a reinstatement right. The employer bears the burden of proving the elimination was entirely unrelated to the leave. Filling the role while the employee was out and then refusing reinstatement is strong circumstantial evidence of retaliation under § 12940(h). |
|
“You never formally requested an accommodation in writing.” |
The interactive-process duty under § 12940(n) is triggered by a known condition, not a formal written request. An oral request to a supervisor or a doctor’s note communicated to HR is generally sufficient to start the clock on the employer’s good-faith engagement obligation. |
|
“We offered you a different role, so we accommodated you.” |
Under Lopez v. La Casa de Las Madres (2023) 89 Cal.App.5th 365, the accommodation offered must allow the employee to perform the essential functions of her job. An offer that strips core duties or materially reduces compensation is not necessarily a reasonable accommodation. |
Baby-Bonding Leave and How PDL and CFRA Stack Together
After PDL ends, an employee who qualifies under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Government Code § 12945.2, may take an additional 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected baby-bonding leave. CFRA applies to employers with five or more employees and requires the employee to have worked for that employer for at least 12 months and logged at least 1,250 hours in the prior 12-month period.
Because CFRA bonding leave runs consecutively, not concurrently, with PDL, a birth parent who qualifies for both laws can take approximately seven months of combined job-protected leave. Federal FMLA (12 weeks) runs concurrently with PDL when both apply, CFRA leave will run at the same time as FMLA’), so bonding leave typically draws from FMLA and CFRA simultaneously [source].
Does a Davis Worker Get More Leave Than Federal Law Provides?
Yes, substantially. Federal FMLA provides a maximum of 12 weeks of leave and requires 12 months of tenure and 1,250 hours worked before any leave attaches. California’s PDL, by contrast, provides up to four months of leave from the employee’s very first day, with no tenure requirement. Adding CFRA’s 12 additional weeks of consecutive bonding leave produces a combined total that far exceeds anything available under federal law alone. For California employees at Davis-area companies with five or more workers, state law is the stronger shield in every practical respect.
Deadlines a Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer Will Ask About First
Every pregnancy discrimination claim in California runs against at least two hard deadlines, and missing either one can extinguish the claim entirely. The table below presents the three-deadline framework that any pregnancy discrimination lawyer will review at the outset of a consultation.
|
Filing Step |
Deadline |
Authority
|
|---|---|---|
|
File complaint with California Civil Rights Department (CRD) |
3 years from the last discriminatory act |
Gov. Code § 12960(e); AB 9, eff. Jan. 1, 2020 |
|
File charge with the EEOC (federal claims) |
300 days from the last discriminatory act |
|
|
File civil lawsuit in California Superior Court |
1 year from CRD right-to-sue notice |
Code § 12965 (c)(1)(C) |
What Counts as the “Last Discriminatory Act” That Starts the Clock
A discrete adverse action such as a wrongful termination has a clear trigger date: the day the employee was told. A pattern of conduct, such as repeated denials of accommodation requests or a sustained campaign of hostile treatment, is harder to pin down because each incident may restart the clock independently. That distinction matters practically: an employee who experienced a single documented termination knows exactly when three years begins to run, while someone subjected to months of incremental mistreatment should consult a pregnancy discrimination lawyer promptly to map out which acts fall within the window and which do not.
What a Successful Claim Can Recover
A successful FEHA pregnancy discrimination claim can recover the following remedies:
- Back pay: lost wages and benefits from the date of the discriminatory act to the date of judgment
- Front pay: projected future lost earnings where reinstatement is not feasible
- Reinstatement: return to the same or a substantially equivalent position
- Compensatory damages: compensation for emotional distress and other non-economic harm
- Punitive damages: available when the employer acted with malice or reckless indifference to the employee’s rights
- Injunctive relief: a court order requiring the employer to stop the discriminatory conduct or implement policy changes
- Attorney’s fees and litigation costs: recoverable by a prevailing plaintiff under FEHA
For a detailed breakdown of how these categories translate into real outcomes, see our guide on pregnancy discrimination settlements in California and our overview of the average pregnancy discrimination settlement in California.
Why Punitive Damages Are on the Table in Serious Cases
Punitive damages under FEHA are not automatic. They require the employee to show that the employer acted with malice (a deliberate intent to harm) or with reckless indifference to the employee’s civil rights. An employer who fires a visibly pregnant employee and tells her the role will be posted again in a month, or who has a documented history of adverse actions against pregnant workers, presents the kind of egregious conduct that makes a punitive-damages claim viable. The standard is high, but it is reached in cases involving deliberate retaliation or systematic disregard for legal obligations.
What This Means If You Were Treated Differently Because of Your Pregnancy
If you are a Davis-area employee who was fired, demoted, denied an accommodation, or pushed out of a role after announcing a pregnancy or requesting leave, you are likely within the scope of FEHA and the PDLL. The most important immediate steps are to document everything you remember, preserve any written communications (texts, emails, written warnings), identify the dates of each adverse action, and note any remarks your employer or supervisors made near the time of those actions. The three-year CRD filing window gives you time to act thoughtfully, but it does not mean delay is costless: witnesses move on, documents are deleted, and memories fade.
If your situation involves LGBTQ+ identity alongside pregnancy, related protections under FEHA also apply, and our LGBTQ+ discrimination lawyer in Davis page outlines how those claims interact. Consulting a pregnancy discrimination lawyer early costs nothing but positions you to preserve every remedy the law makes available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my employer have to pay me during PDL?
PDL itself is unpaid under Government Code § 12945. However, you may be entitled to receive wages during leave by using accrued paid time off (vacation, paid sick leave, or paid personal time), or by filing for California State Disability Insurance (SDI) benefits through the Employment Development Department, if you qualify medically.
I only started my job two months ago. Do I still qualify for PDL?
Yes. PDL under Government Code § 12945 is available from the first day of employment. There is no minimum tenure requirement, which is one of the most significant ways California law exceeds federal FMLA protections.
My employer says my position no longer exists. Is that a defense?
It can be raised as a defense, but the employer carries the burden of proving the elimination was entirely unrelated to your leave. If the position was filled, restructured, or posted again after your return, that evidence cuts strongly against the defense.
What if my employer never responded to my accommodation request?
Silence is itself a legal violation. Government Code § 12940(n) requires employers to engage in a timely, good-faith interactive process once they learn of a need for accommodation. Failure to respond is a standalone claim independent of whether the accommodation would have been granted.
Can I file with both the CRD and the EEOC?
Yes. Filing with one agency typically cross-files with the other through a work-sharing agreement, but the deadlines differ: three years for the CRD under Government Code § 12960(e) and 300 days for the EEOC. Because the EEOC deadline is shorter, federal claims require earlier action.
Contact Setareh Law Group: If you believe your employer violated your rights during or after a pregnancy, the team at Setareh Law Group is available to evaluate your situation. We represent California employees in pregnancy discrimination, leave denial, and accommodation cases. Contact us to schedule a consultation and get a clear picture of your options before any deadlines pass.
Contact us today:
📞 Phone: 310-888-7771
✉️ Email: help@setarehlaw.com
🌐 Address: 420 N Camden Dr, Beverly Hills CA, 90210
Disclaimer: This article is general legal information about California pregnancy discrimination law and is intended for educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and Setareh Law Group or any of its attorneys. Every employment situation involves facts that can change the legal analysis. Do not rely on this article as a substitute for advice from a licensed California employment attorney familiar with your specific circumstances.
Sources and Additional Resources
Authoritative sources cited
- Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code § 12940(a)
- Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL), Government Code § 12945
- California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Government Code § 12945.2
- Gov. Code § 12960(e)
- EEOC (California is a deferral state)
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