The Wall Street Journal reports that pregnancy-bias job complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were up by 14 percent this year, and up by 40 percent from a decade ago. Employers aren't allowed to discriminate against the with child in hiring, firing, and lay-offs--which doesn't mean they can't do all those things to you, it just means they can't treat you worse than men. So essentially you have to prove that the actions were motivated by the fact that you were pregnant, which isn't always easy.

While many women also assume they get maternity leave, the truth is that only a couple states guarantee the leave must be paid. And though some ladies do pursue claims against employers, many opt to drop claims because of the time and hassle entailed. With a pregnancy or newborn, I'm sure you have all kinds of free time to work with attorneys and amass evidence and so on. But ultimately some women are successful, like the HR manager who was laid off as part of a reduction-in-force, only to discover the reduction encompassed only her. And if we can do anything to encourage women to pursue action, we'd damn well better do it, or employers will be able to continue to shut out those that are in a family way.