Thursday, August 19, 2010

Legal advice needed on labor laws in Virginia.?

Okay, here is the thing. I may be pregnant and my boss is fully convinced I am. I work for a maid service that has only 5 employees. I was the first employee of the company. Well now that my boss believes I am pregnant she has ';revised'; the business and handed us packets today in a meeting. Well she announced that I had an extra paper than the others, which was a termination paper. However, it states that I have 21 days to sign the paper or be terminated, and the paper is having me to sign away any rights of sueing them for any discrimination matters. It clears them of everything. Can she legally make me sign away my rights of feeling discriminated against because of the pregnancy? If I don't sign the paper, I am to be fired then. So pretty much, I am being fired, but they are trying to cover their *** by having me sign away my rights of feeling discriminated against.





Please, any advice is better than none. I don't have any money for a lawyer, and I have a four year old.Legal advice needed on labor laws in Virginia.?
You need to check your state's department of labor web site for the rules concerning pregnancy discrimination. It is possible that you can be let go if you cannot perform your job duties due to your pregnancy. You are not protected by FMLA since the company is so small and so once you leave to have the baby you can be terminated.





However, the good news is that some states do have laws in place concerning pregnancy. You can't sign away your rights and having that type of document to show the state department of labor would likely result in your employer getting penalized.





Good luckLegal advice needed on labor laws in Virginia.?
I would keep that paper, and if you can't afford an attorney, I would go to legal aid and show it to them and ask for their help.





If there is no legal aid, I would inquire at a local law school or one near by, about whether their students take indigent clients in a law clinic.





She legally cannot terminate you because you are pregnant.





Unfortunately, though, unless you have some type of employment contract, you are an employee at will, so they can pretty much give any non-discriminatory reason they want to fire you.





Being pregnant is not an acceptable reason though!





Sorry you are going through that.





Technically, you can't really ';sign'; your rights away because they are protected under employment law and you can always sue somebody for discrimination if you want to.
You can not be fired for being pregnant. Call your state labor board and ask them. They're always helpful.
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