Pregnancy discrimination remains one of the most common — and most misunderstood — forms of workplace discrimination. Employers may not penalize someone for being pregnant, needing medical care, requesting time off, or asking for reasonable adjustments to continue working safely. Under federal law, employers with 15 or more employees are required to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship — even if the employer never volunteered that information.

In practice, pregnancy discrimination often shows up as denied accommodations, forced leave, reduced hours, demotion, termination, or retaliation for speaking up.

The law now makes clear that pregnancy must be treated like other temporary medical conditions, and employers are expected to engage in good-faith accommodations rather than pushing pregnant employees out. If your job changed for the worse after you disclosed your pregnancy or asked for help, you may have rights worth understanding.

Under federal, state, and local law, discrimination based on sex is unlawful. Sex discrimination can include unequal treatment related to pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or sex-based stereotypes, as well as retaliation for opposing such treatment. It also includes sexual harassment — unwelcome, non-consensual, or unwanted conduct that sexualizes, objectifies, or targets someone because of sex, or conditions workplace benefits on submission to such conduct.

In practice, sex discrimination often shows up at work as unequal pay, failure to promote, harsher scrutiny, exclusion, or punishment for speaking up. These claims frequently overlap with other legal protections — including age or disability discrimination — particularly in matters involving pregnancy, perimenopause, or menopause, and they often compound with race or color discrimination as well.

If you’re being treated differently because of sex or gender, or retaliated against for challenging that treatment, you may have legal rights worth understanding.

Sexual harassment is a form of sex or gender discrimination. It includes unwelcome, unwanted, or non-consensual conduct that sexualizes, objectifies, or targets someone at work, as well as conditioning workplace opportunities or benefits on submission to such conduct.

Harassment can also take the form of a hostile or degrading work environment — including sexualized language, comments, imagery, or behavior — even without direct propositions or physical contact.

Harassment often involves power imbalances, and the impact can differ depending on whether the conduct comes from a supervisor, manager, or coworker. It frequently escalates after someone sets boundaries or speaks up. If you’re experiencing this kind of behavior — or retaliation for resisting it — you may have legal options worth exploring.

Many women feel pressure to stay silent about menopause at work — even when symptoms affect their health, concentration, or performance — because they fear being judged as less capable or less reliable. But menopause and perimenopause can have real workplace consequences, and employers are increasingly being challenged to take these realities seriously. Depending on your circumstances, menopause-related issues may trigger legal protections or entitle you to reasonable workplace accommodations.

Discrimination doesn’t always come in neat categories. Many women experience overlapping forms of unequal treatment — for example, sex discrimination intertwined with race or color discrimination, age discrimination, or discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. If you’re being treated unfairly at work because of who you are — and especially if you’re being punished for speaking up about it — you may have legal protections and practical options worth exploring.