By David Bertola
Business First

Incidences of pregnancy discrimination may be on the rise locally.

Of the 20 to 30 workplace complaints his law firm, Lipsitz Green Scime Cambria LLP, typically analyzes in a week, says senior partner Robert Boreanaz, "we are seeing at least three or four pregnancy-discrimination claims."

Boreanaz, who chairs the labor and employment law department at the Buffalo law firm, considers this to be an uptick in these kinds of complaints, which fall into different cate-gories.

"We are hearing people are being discharged, not being promoted, and denied overtime or other desirable assignments because of their condition," he said.

More "desirable" assignments, he said, might include those where telecommuting or travel are part of the job.

"What might be driving this is the downward pressure of the economy," he said. "I think most people would understand the higher-paid employees might be those an employer would get rid of first," said Boreanaz, adding that it's rare that a company would come right out and tell a woman she is being demoted or laid off because she is pregnant.

To prevent having to defend against pregnancy-discrimination claims, he suggests that companies be more diligent in their human-resources practices; claims can be costly, disruptive and time-consuming.

"Some of our clients come to us and ask for assistance in investigating claims and will take action after the investigation is complete," said Linda Joseph, a founding partner at Schröder Joseph and Associates, which represents companies in discrimination matters and other cases. "My experience with companies that have large human-resources de-partments is that they are very effective in taking the appropriate measures if they find a situation to be complicated or are seeking advice."

Joseph said her firm hasn't been involved in a pregnancy-discrimination case in a couple of years.

After conferring with co-founder Ginger Schröder, Joseph said, "Our sense is that preg-nancy discrimination is less of a problem than it used to be, we think, in part because many companies are subject to the Family Medical Leave Act, which allows husbands and wives to take leave."

The U.S. Department of Labor has criteria for providing coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Among these, the person must be employed by the company for at least 12 months, and the company must have at least 50 full-time employees living within 75 miles of the worksite.

Laurence Oppenheimer, a partner and chair of the labor and employment practice at Hiscock & Barclay LLP in Buffalo, also provides counsel to companies on employment matters. Like Joseph, he hasn't noticed an increase in pregnancy-discrimination claims. He estimates that his firm may field a half dozen questions per year related to the topic.

He said there was more litigation in the 1980s and 1990s regarding pregnancy discrimi-nation. These days, he said, employers know more about how to communicate with staff.

"Good managers and supervisors understand their obligations to manage employees with respect and dignity," said Oppenheimer.

"Management recognizes the value of experienced people who are able to take leave and come back to work full-time," Joseph said. "They value the individual, their capabilities, and are willing to work with them."

While every case he and his Lipsitz Green colleagues analyze doesn't result in a lawsuit, since some clients choose to not pursue a claim, Boreanaz said, they are actively nego-tiating settlements of claims on dozens of cases and actively litigating dozens more.

Of those that do go to court, Boreanaz finds that juries tend to be sympathetic toward claimants. He said pregnancy-discrimination cases have ended in settlements ranging from $60,000 to $500,000 - and in a range of industries, such as banking, telecom-munications, restaurants and manufacturing.