You were thrilled when you got a new job offer. After all, you had spent months going through the interview process. You know that you’re qualified and it’s a great job, and the employer offered a salary that certainly fits within your requests. You planned to take the job.
However, you mentioned to your prospective boss that you had become pregnant during that time. Perhaps you were just asking about what the medical benefits looked like, or maybe you were trying to give them a heads-up that you would need some time off in the future. You didn’t think much about it, but then they suddenly pulled the offer. Can they do this?
It is likely pregnancy discrimination
Generally speaking, no, your employer cannot do something like this because it’s a form of discrimination. Under the umbrella of sex or gender discrimination is a prohibition against pregnancy discrimination in the United States. If your boss pulled that offer because they found out you were pregnant and so they wanted to give the job to someone else, they are discriminating against you and it is a violation of your rights.
Of course, this can get to be fairly complicated. They may invent a different reason why they pulled the offer, such as saying that someone else was a better fit. But the fact that they made the offer and then only removed it when they found out that you were pregnant does speak in your favor. Just know that this can be a complex case where both sides may tell very different stories about what happened and why it happened.
As a result, it is important for you to understand all of the legal rights that you have at this time.