February 25, 2025
Maternity and Employment Rights with Crabill Law Firm: Podcast Episode #279
Kristin and Taylor talk about maternity and employment rights in the latest episode of Ask the Doulas. He covers tips on everything from navigating return from leave to when to tell your employer you are pregnant. Taylor is an Employment Rights Attorney with Crabill Law Firm.
Hello, hello! This is Kristin Revere with Ask the Doulas, and I am thrilled to chat with Taylor Crabill. Now, Taylor is a dedicated attorney specializing in employment law. He is deeply committed to advocating for employees who have faced discrimination, retaliation, and wage issues in the workplace with a focus on representing those who have been wronged by their employers. His practice is built on a foundation of integrity, resilience, and an unwavering pursuit of justice. Over the years, Crabill Law Firm has focused on representing clients against some of the largest and most formidable companies in the world. These experiences have not only honed Taylor’s expertise in employment law but have also reinforced his dedication to ensuring that employees are treated fairly and lawfully.
Now, our focus today is all about maternity rights and employment rights. Welcome, Taylor!
Hi, Kristin. How are you? Happy to be here.
Doing well! So we have had attorneys on Ask the Doulas in the past, but we haven’t navigated maternity rights, so I’m really thrilled to chat with you today.
Yeah, absolutely. I’m looking forward to it.
So let’s get into it! As far as what you have experienced, what are some of the top concerns, other than when to tell your employer that you’re expecting?
Sure. I would say the most important thing is being proactive, right? A lot of times in employment law situations, it’s very reactive. You suffer a termination, and then you’re reaching out to an employment lawyer. But I think it’s very important to contact an attorney early, even if you’re just learning that you’re pregnant and you’re worried about how work might respond. It’s always good just to have a conversation. Learn about your rights. Learn about what the laws protect, what they don’t protect, what you can do to maximize your protections under the law. Unfortunately, pregnancy discrimination is a real thing, and after someone disclosed her pregnancy, she might notice a change. She’s maybe one of the top performers and gets top clients or top jobs, top projects, and all of a sudden after she announces a pregnancy, she’s not getting those same opportunities. All of a sudden, she’s being criticized for her performance where she was praised previously, maybe being micromanaged. And so speaking to an expert who’s been through these situations before – they’ll help guide you through those situations and understand what you need to do to maximize your protection.
Yeah, that makes complete sense. So what is the best time to have those discussions with your employer, with the HR department, as far as navigating maternity leave and how things may change when coming back to work, for example?
Yeah, fair enough, and I guess it could be different for every person, of course. You may want to wait a certain amount of time for pregnancy-related issues, make sure that everything is okay. And then making sure that you give enough time for yourself to be able to plan, to understand how the employer is going to react, planning for your leave and what it’s going to look like when you come back. But keeping in mind – obviously, you don’t want to assume the worst that might happen, but just be prepared for it, understanding your rights. So if you start to notice those starts of changes after you disclose your pregnancy, documenting them, making protective complaints, hopefully with the help of an attorney helping you draft something like that to make sure you’re protected is really important. But it could be up to the person on when she might disclose. Maybe there are certain specific situations with the employer, with the type of job, that it makes sense to disclose at a certain time. Again, something that is probably unique to every person and another reason to speak to an expert when you’re considering these things.
Right. And then of course navigating benefits can be overwhelming and how much maternity and paternity leave there would be and options. I know some of my clients want to slowly transition back to their role and start with part time, managing childcare, and then go back to a full time role. So any advice on those situations?
Understanding your company’s policies, right? Employers at different levels maybe have different sophistication in dealing with these sorts of situations. A larger employer has probably dealt with pregnant employees previously and hopefully they have a good system in place for adjusting the business needs based on the time that the pregnant person is going to be out and then making sure that there’s a smooth transition back in, including some ramp-up time.
Understanding your employer’s policies – you know, maybe you’re reaching out to HR to get an understanding of it. And also important to know those policies because sometimes while policies might be in writing, the employer doesn’t follow them. So if they’re not following their policies, it’s something to know about. But making sure you know how the employer is going to approach things. It will give you a sense of maybe how they’re reacting to your pregnancy.
That makes sense. And then as far as the subtle differences that you mentioned earlier – I have a lot of high performing clients in managerial positions, and they don’t want to lose the momentum that they’ve achieved with having their first baby or their third baby, whatever it may be. So it can be an unfortunate situation where you could be passed over for a promotion, for example, after having a child or while navigating maternity leave, for example.
Yeah. I’ve seen it time and again, unfortunately, and oftentimes, women I’ve represented are the top or one of the top performers in their group and for whatever reason, perhaps unjustified stigma around pregnant employees or new mothers and their dedication to the job – then they suffer these negative consequences, which is obviously not fair and more than likely unlawful. So again, making sure that you understand your employer’s policies. Women getting pregnant is a part of life, right? The employer should be planning to have to engage with those situations to make sure that they have the system in place so that a woman after she’s given birth and come back from maternity leave is able to slide back in and continue to advance her career if that’s what she wants to do. But it doesn’t always happen like that, and that’s why having that understanding of how am I protected, what do I need to do if these things start to go the wrong way – you start to protect yourself, right? The employment laws provide for if, unfortunately, like, you’re fired or you don’t receive a promotion. They provide for certain recovery if you should have been promoted but you weren’t related to your pregnancy or you’re a new mother. Women who are not pregnant or men are being advanced when you have the same or more qualifications than them – that can be a basis for a claim, and the law provides for certain recovery. For our legal system, most of the time, it’s money recovery to hold the employer accountable for those sorts of situations. These cases are tough because it’s not like there’s going to be an email. Most of the time, there’s not going to be an email that says, hey, Jane is pregnant. We need to now get her out of the company. Right? That’s sort of an open and shut case, very easy or very clear in terms of the liability and the intent behind it. It’s much more nuanced with these subtle comments, like how long are you going to be out on maternity leave; it’s going to be really difficult for us without you here; can’t believe this is happening now. All those sorts of negative comments. And then as I said, noticing a chance in performance critiques or the types of work that you’re doing. All those things start to go together and start to show discriminatory intent. So when you get that gut feeling, maybe don’t assume that things will just take out and really take the steps you need to learn about the law and what you need to do.
Ultimately, you might not have to do anything, and hopefully you don’t. But at least you have the knowledge and at least you have what you need to make the best decision for you.
Makes sense. So how are we navigating the changes with remote working when it comes to maternity leave and maternity rights?
Sure. So remote working – it might be easier to navigate that sort of situation if you’re a new mother, having the flexibility of working remotely might make it easier to take care of certain childcare responsibilities, in addition to allowing you more flexibility on when you’re able to work. So maybe it’s easier to sort of jump back in and ramp up. I think remote work has more acceptance, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s been sort of a plus in that regard. You are seeing a lot of employers shift towards pushing people back into the office, and maybe there are certain business reasons around that. But I would at least advice employers to have that sort of flexibility, especially with situations with childcare and pregnant employees because there’s no doubt, and we’ve seen in – there’s data behind it – that people can be very productive when working remotely.
Exactly. Yeah, my main thought was with the transition and maybe the ease of working remotely and then some of these larger employees are now going back to the office, and that can certainly be a hurdle.
Yeah, it could be if there’s a strict direction from the employer to return to the office. Some of the protections under the laws – for example, if you suffer from some sort of complications related to pregnancy for whatever reason and it’s taking you longer to recover, that might qualify as a “disability” under the law, and in that sort of case you maybe entitled to an accommodation to help you continue to perform the work while you’re hopefully dealing with this temporary condition.
Sure, like bedrest, for example, during pregnancy or any issues in the maternity leave time that may need an extension medically.
Yeah, exactly. If you’re entitled to a certain amount of leave under the law, maybe your employer has a better plan than what’s provided under the law. But let’s say under the Family Medical Leave Act, for example, you get 12 weeks of unpaid time. If you need additional time, the American Disabilities Act, which is federal law, could provide for an accommodation that extends that sort of leave.
But also then related to remote work, if your employer typically doesn’t allow for remote work and wants people in the office but you’re dealing with certain situations after your pregnancy or during your pregnancy, then maybe remote work is that accommodation that can work, and your employer is required to work with you to come up with an accommodation that will allow you to continue working. They don’t have to provide you with maybe the accommodation that you want, but they have to at least work with you to come up with something that will work.
Makes sense. And then as far as other maternity rights, like dedicated pumping rooms and time to pump – that would be one thing to certainly talk to HR and know your rights. Are there any other considerations for our audience?
Again, maybe some sort of office set up is required again as a sort of accommodation. If for whatever reason sitting for a long period of time is difficult for you following pregnancy, then having a standing desk, or being able to take 10, 15 minute breaks in between certain jobs. Even while you’re pregnant – obviously, some women suffer from fairly severe pregnancy symptoms and maybe need 10, 15 minutes to be able to reset if they’re in a fast paced sort of environment. So those could be some accommodations that are actually needed in the workplace, as well.
Any other tips for our listeners?
Yeah, again, I really can’t emphasize this enough – being proactive. Obviously, we all have had certain critiques at work. No one is perfect. You’re going to make mistakes. But really understanding that if you feel in your gut that something is off, you’re probably right. I’ve seen where people just wait and say, you know, I was criticized; I don’t think that’s really fair; I don’t know where this is coming from. You know, I just told them I was pregnant and maybe it has something to do with that, but let’s see how it goes, right? And then maybe weeks pass, maybe a couple months pass, and it doesn’t get better. It just continues to get worse. The performance critique increases. And perhaps in that situation, the employer is trying to build some sort of record because again, they’re not going to say we don’t want you here because you’re a new mother. We don’t want you here because you’re pregnant. They’re going to say, more likely than not, we don’t want you here because we think you’re a bad employee now, and here’s the record that we’ve now made to justify that. Of course, there’s going to be evidence to point out to say no, that’s not the real reason. The real reason is I’m a new mother or I’m pregnant. But when you’re taking proactive steps and you get that gut feeling, you speak to a lawyer. I’ve done this many many times to help clients or even prospective clients, people who haven’t retained the firm yet, to draft these protective complaints. Hey, HR, hey, supervisor, hey, someone in the company that can do something about it – I feel like I’m being discriminated against based on my pregnancy or because I’m a new mother. I have children. These are the reasons why. A, B, C, noticing changes, comments that we’ve talked about. When you do something like that, you make that complaint, hopefully in writing, that’s what is called a protected activity under the law, and if you are retaliated against, if you don’t receive a promotion, if you’re demoted, if you’re fired – termination happens to be the most common scenario – then you can point to your complaint and say hey, they got rid of me because of this complaint, and that’s wrong. So it’s very important to do that. And because every person in this situation is unique, it’s important to get that expert advice, which an employment lawyer like myself should be willing to do for free. We do free consultations. I will draft those sorts of complaints for people because if something unfortunate does happen to them, hopefully they want to work with us and we’re able to help them and put them in the best position possible in connection with their legal claims.
Excellent advice. So how can our listeners connect with you? First of all, where are you at geographically, and how can we connect with you online?
We’re based out of Florida and New York, but we do take on cases across the country. You can certainly visit our website. On our webpage, you’ll be able to schedule a Zoom consultation call where we’ll go through your situation in detail. We’ll learn all the facts that we can from you, talk about certain documents that we might want to look at that will help us assess your claims and how strong they might be, what the value of those claims might be, and then let you know what your options are. We typically send a detailed letter to an employer before having to file anything publicly. So nothing is out there. We send a letter and try to resolve the claims before anything is filed. Sometimes that happens. A good amount of cases do resolve like that. Sometimes you have to file a case and maybe fight in the case for months or even a couple of years, but more typically than not, these sorts of cases do resolve at some point. They do settle. And just because you didn’t settle before having to file something publicly doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to do that later on.
That makes sense! You’re also active on LinkedIn, correct?
Yes, you can check that out. We also do some informational videos on YouTube, as well, if you’re looking for more information, or I’m more than happy to provide that on a call or a consultation.
Thank you so much! This has been very informative, and I’m sure a lot of our listeners will start to make preparations. Thank you, Taylor!
Yeah, of course, Kristin! Thanks again for having me on!
IMPORTANT LINKS
Birth and postpartum support from Gold Coast Doulas