The New York Times reviewed thousands of pages of court and public records and interviewed dozens of women, their lawyers and government officials. A clear pattern emerged. Many of the country’s largest and most prestigious companies still systematically sideline pregnant women. They pass them over for promotions and raises. They fire them when they complain.

Pregnancy discrimination in the workplace is illegal, but it happens all the time. So you need to be proactive. It’s not as if your company’s gonna grow a heart, all of a sudden.

If you are a woman being paid less than a man, or treated worse than you should be treated at work because you’re a woman, because you’re pregnant, because you had a baby, because you took some protected disability leave either while you were pregnant, or after your baby was born, and now you are being penalized for it, or punished for it, you have to oppose it.

Under the new revised statute as of May 9, 2018, even if you’re the only employee, and you are being sexually harassed, being subjected to unwelcome sexual conduct, a sexually hostile work environment, you are in a position now to hold your employer accountable.

If your company doesn’t correct what they are doing that is discriminatory toward you as a result of your pregnancy, which is inseparable from who you are as a woman obviously, you wanna be in a position where they would have to make you happy in the separation. If you have to get a divorce from your company, you want to be able to leave with your head held high, and your shoulders squared.

It’s the law, it’s the federal law if your employer has 15 employees, and if you work, depending on where you work, if you work in New York State, four employees. But chances are, if you work for an employer with at least 15 employees, you’re covered and it’s illegal when your employer disciplines you, or fires you because of their no-fault policy when you are pregnant.

If you work for a small employer in Connecticut, and your employer isn’t being flexible with you during your pregnancy, isn’t allowing you to sit down occasionally, or to take time to go to doctors, or to take a maternity leave; or when you come back from maternity leave, to express milk at work for your baby – all of this is now required by the Connecticut Human Rights Law with regard to your sex and your pregnancy.

Even if there is only one employee, one 1099 employee and that’s you, and you are being sexually harassed, you can fight back. Also under the same new revised law, effective July 2018, mandatory arbitration will no longer be mandatory for sexual harassment claims in New York.

If you are dealing with harassment in the workplace, very important that you complain to your employer. Give them a chance to investigate your allegations of gender discrimination, or harassment based on your race, color, pregnancy, national origin – it doesn’t matter. The point is, that you have to give the employer, the company, the opportunity to fix it.

If you are being sexually harassed and you work for an employer in New York, it doesn’t matter now how small your employer is. Even if there is only one employee, and you’re that employee, and you’re experiencing unwanted sexual attention – any kind of sexualizing conduct, or sexist hostility – you can now hold your employer accountable. And, if you prevail, you are entitled to your attorney fees for holding their feet to the fire.