Not too long ago, I got into an argument with some twerp about at-will employment, which he informed me was fair because, although it meant that your boss could fire you for any reason, it also means that you can leave your job for any reason as well. He did this, mind you, with a straight and very sincere face. I asked him if he actually thought that the United States was the only country in the world where people were allowed to quit their jobs. Naturally, he called me a bitch and walked away.
Now, despite the whole “at will employment” thing, most employers are still not allowed to fire certain people for certain reasons. One of those things is that you can’t fire someone for getting pregnant. Mostly.
You see, we don’t talk about this a lot, because it’s awkward, but federally, businesses with fewer than 15 employees are allowed to fire people for discriminatory reasons. Many states set the minimum lower than that, but in many states it’s still 15. For the Family and Medical Leave Act, which bars employers from retaliating or firing those who take advantage of their right to at least 12 weeks of unpaid parental or medical leave, the threshold is 50 employees.
Thus, it was entirely legal when a young woman, who goes by SnackingWithSofia on TikTok, found out that her employer laid her off an hour after she came back from her (unpaid) 12 weeks maternity leave.
Sofia shared in her video that she’s not just complaining about being laid off — because people get laid off all the time — but that they didn’t tell her beforehand so she could search for a new job for when she was ready to get back.
“This issue is my employer not being able to tell me while I’m on medical leave that I should maybe look for a job during those three months,” she said. “Granted, I was told I was safe from all of the layoffs.”
In the video, Sofia wonders if this is the kind of thing that only happens in the United States and not in other developed nations — and it is! No other wealthy country has at will employment, for one, and for another, there are only six (6) countries without paid maternity leave. The United States, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and Papua New Guinea.
The problem with our system is that it puts the onus on the employee to prove discrimination or prove that they were fired unfairly, file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, get approval, hire a lawyer, pay the lawyer and then spend an ungodly amount of time to probably get very little in the end, if anything. People have told me I shouldn’t say this, not because it isn’t true, but because it will discourage people from filing discrimination lawsuits. And I get that. I do. For now, people should pursue those, because it’s the only way these companies will be held accountable. However …
That’s the whole problem with not needing “just cause.” If you just switch things around and put the onus on the company to either show that they are firing someone for a valid reason or have to provide them with notice or severance, most of those problems are solved. It also just makes a lot more sense, logistically. It’s not such a mess. The rules are clear and everyone understands them.
Sofia also noted that she is lucky to be in a place where this isn’t devastating her financially. She’s right, and we need laws that protect us from things like that, because not everyone is in her position. Workers deserve stability. They deserve to know that as long as they do a good job, barring layoffs or the whole company going under, they will continue to have it and will be able to rely on it, so that they can plan for their futures and for things like “having a baby.”
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