State Senate bill would extend window for pregnancy discrimination complaints

Published 11:09 am Friday, February 14, 2020

A bill passed Thursday by the state Senate in Olympia with a broad bipartisan majority would extend the statute of limitations for filing a pregnancy discrimination complaint from six months to one year.

Senate Bill 6034 would update the Washington Law Against Discrimination to give a pregnant woman or new mother more time to file a complaint with the Washington Human Rights Council.

“It takes nine months or more to have a baby, but right now, expectant mothers only have six months to file a discrimination complaint,” said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, the sponsor of the bill, in a State Senate Democrats news release. “That doesn’t make sense.”

The issue received national attention in October with the publication of a Fast Company article about the discrimination faced by Chelsey Glasson, a Washingtonian who worked at a major technology company in Seattle.

Studies show that mothers are half as likely to be called back for interviews as non-mothers, and mothers who are hired are likely to be offered an average of $11,000 less per year in salary.

Having passed the Senate by a vote of 38-9, SB 6034 now moves to the House of Representatives.