Revolution by Lawsuit

On this blog and in my own life, I've heard myriad stories of employer discrimination against moms, almost-moms and dads. A woman fired while she was pregnant because her employer assumed she wouldn't return from maternity leave. Another who returned to find her responsibilities drastically reduced. A senior executive transferred to a job that required extensive travel and evening entertaining -- after she had given birth to three children in three years. A man ridiculed for taking paternity leave. I have my own stories, too.

None of us filed lawsuits. We were afraid of ruining our reputations or wasting our time within a system that seemed unfair or uncaring about our determination to be good employees and good parents.

Now, one woman has convinced me we all should have been braver.

Joan Williams was the subject of last Sunday's New York Times Magazine's article Family Leave Values. Williams, a legendary figure within the world of gender discrimination, is a professor at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, a Harvard Law School graduate, and a mother. She is the founder of The Center for WorkLife Law -- a nonprofit information resource and advocacy group for employees, employers, journalists and academics that operates a hot line (800-981-9495) for employees exploring filing a discrimination claim. Williams approaches anti-discrimination lawsuits as a last resort to complete an unfinished feminist revolution.

Those of us who thought we'd been discriminated against but didn't take action were not alone, according to the article.

"Lawsuits claiming workplace discrimination because of family-care giving obligations were rare -- in part because...employers could often get away with it. The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees workers some unpaid time off in the event of a serious health problem, after the birth of a child or to care for a sick family member, but the law's scope is limited...And no federal antidiscrimination statute exists that explicitly protects family caregivers in the workplace."

But listen to what has changed, in part because of Joan Williams as well as other women (and a few men) who protested.

Since the mid-1990s, more than 1,150 state and federal discrimination lawsuits have been filed -- a 300 percent increase. Some have invoked the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, others Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Plaintiffs have ranged from elite professionals to store clerks to at least one state trooper, a Maryland man who became the first person to win a sex-discrimination suit filed under FMLA when he was denied paternity leave.

In Joan Williams' book Unbending Gender, she argued that "suing your employer is not the ideal mechanism of social change." But she amended that sentiment in the Times article. "[Lawsuits] are the worst possible vehicle for social change," she said. "except for nothing, and that's where we are right now."

Looking back, I understand my -- and other women's -- fears. I wish I had been gutsier. All of us who can protest should -- in whatever way we can -- when we see discrimination. So bravo to those of you who have filed discrimination lawsuits. And to those of you wondering whether you should -- give Joan Williams a call.

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  August 1, 2007; 7:15 AM ET  | Category:  Conflicts
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