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Comment by tucaz | Hacker News Reader

I really can’t understand this. Even if they actually fired her for being pregnant, what’s wrong with it?

Where’s the freedom to work with whoever I want to?

Say a women works for me and her work entails lifting heavy stuff. I only have her as my employee and she gets pregnant so she can’t do the job anymore.

Am I required by law to employ someone who can’t do what they were hired to do?

I’m not saying this is good behavior on Amazon’s part. Actually it could even be called despicable, but I don't think that forcing people to do things against their will is good and, as a matter o fact, legal.

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Maternity leave is a thing. In EU, it's even protected by the legislation to offer a minimum of 14 weeks, and that employers must not dismiss a woman simply because she's pregnant.

IMO, it's especially wrong when the company that does this is a trillion dollar company.

https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/pregnancy.cfm

nice try, but no:

If a woman is temporarily unable to perform her job due to a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, the employer or other covered entity must treat her in the same way as it treats any other temporarily disabled employee. For example, the employer may have to provide light duty, alternative assignments, disability leave, or unpaid leave to pregnant employees if it does so for other temporarily disabled employees.

Additionally, impairments resulting from pregnancy (for example, gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, a condition characterized by pregnancy-induced hypertension and protein in the urine) may be disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). An employer may have to provide a reasonable accommodation (such as leave or modifications that enable an employee to perform her job) for a disability related to pregnancy, absent undue hardship (significant difficulty or expense). The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 makes it much easier to show that a medical condition is a covered disability. For more information about the ADA, see http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability.cfm. For information about the ADA Amendments Act, see http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/disability_regulations.cfm.*

We probably should encourage pregnancy, with TFR below replacement in most of North America and Europe.
But on the other hand, if someone broke their leg in an off-work skiing accident, how many employers would accommodate and put someone on light duty, or even just hold their job until the person recovered?

Welcome to end stage capitalism, where being a human is punished.
There are enough companies that would eat this cost happily as training a new employee is much more expensive, not to mention hiring an acceptable one in the first place.

> Where’s the freedom to work with whoever I want to?
Keep believing the world is run for what you want.

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