WEA Article 4 – End Familial Status Discrimination

From New York Women’s Equality at:  http://nywomensequality.org/10-point-plan/

4. Ending Familial Status Discrimination (Senate Bill 5875)

• State law protects against familial status discrimination in housing and credit, but not employment.
• Women with children are less likely to be recommended for hire and promotion, and more likely to receive less salary than similarly situated men.
• An average woman loses $434,000 over a 40-year career due to the motherhood penalty.

The Women’s Equality Act would:

Outlaw discrimination against parents in the workplace

I worked for a lawyer once who worked me to do initial interviews for my replacement.  He had one “request” beyond basic competence for the position – that they did not have children.  I was amazed when he said that to me, and even more amazed that when I stated I thought it was illegal to discriminate like that, he said it wasn’t.  It was a sad day.  I ignored his request, found my replacement (a mother with a young child) and when I checked back a year later she was still there and doing a great job.  It could have turned out much differently for that working mom.