A mom is suing Eastern Airlines after she was fired when she couldn’t balance work and childcare during the pandemic. Hers is just one story of moms struggling as the “motherhood penalty” hits even harder during the outbreak of COVID-19.
The well-known pay disparity in the workplace is women making approximately $0.80 on the dollar earned by men doing the same job. The National Women’s Law Center suggests that the gap between moms and dads is even bigger, however, with mothers earning just $0.71 to father’s $1.00.
Germany’s Institute of Economic and Social research showed 27% of female wage earners have had to reduce their paid work hours to balance home and work life during COVID, while just 16% of fathers have had to do the same. Some employers have been understanding while parents navigate childcare and work simultaneously, but that’s not universally true.
Take Stephanie Jones. As Bloomberg Law reported, Jones asked her supervisors at Eastern Airlines for two hours per day flex time when she did not have a childcare option as her son’s Pennsylvania school closed due to coronavirus. The single mom was told that asking for those hours in her role as Director of Revenue Management “was not in the interest of the company or [herself].”
She was instructed to use leave time or resign her position, and was later fired for what the company alleged was a “conflict” with co-workers. Jones has filed suit under the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires paid sick leave for parents with no other childcare options during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Meanwhile, California mother of two Dris Wallace recently shared on Instagram that she was fired from a 500-person company in the financial industry because her kids were too loud in the background of Zoom calls. She claimed, “They told me that I should be happy that the outcome to my career there could have been worse.” Moms may find themselves penalized more than ever in this time, which experts refer to as “crisis work.”
Making Motherhood Work author Caitlyn Collins explained, "Women tend to be penalized for any signal that they are caregivers in the workplace, whereas men tend to receive benefits." Attorney Alexis Ronickher would agree: "My expectation is we'll start to see a lot more problems for caregivers and very much expect them to have a disproportionate effect on women."
The struggle for parents managing kids with work is ongoing. Children frequently stifle work progress or interrupt virtual meetings, and that reality will only worsen as efforts to resume employment normally increase. Until there are once again safe, affordable childcare options for working parents everywhere, employers will continue to face damaging litigation if they push employees into the impossible position of choosing between work and family.