Strollerderby : hiring

Best of FameCrawler: Week of July 18th

Whit Honea — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Angelina Jolie Twins Photos: SOLD!!!

Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman Wreck One Home Too Many

Exclusive Sketch Of Angelina's Twins!

Pictures Of Nicole Kidman's Sunday Rose-Two Stories

Drea De Matteo Sobbed When She Found Out She Was Pregnant

Jennifer Aniston's Obsession With Baby

Jessica Alba Already Wants Another Baby

Jessica Alba's Honor Marie - Photo!!!

Name Change: The Jolie-Pitt Twins

Miley Cyrus Leaked Shower Pics: Blame Lindsay!

Best of FameCrawler: Week of July 11th

Whit Honea — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Preg-a-licious! Is Fergie Expecting?

Photos Of Maddie Briann, They're Official

Sexy Superhero Parents: The Top 10

Is Michael Jackson Dying?

Nicole Kidman's Dad Reveals Secret of Sunday's Name!!

THESE Two Are The Hottest Celebrity Parents, For Seriously

Photos! Who Is Diana Bianchi?

Wanted: Nanny for the World's Most Famous Family

Angelina's Due Date - Got It!!!!

Angie And Brad's New Baby!

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's Baby Names!

Angelina's Paparazzi Proof Room

What Exactly Is the "Disney Look"?

Kelly Mills — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:01:00 GMT

A guy in South Florida is suing Disney World for employment discrimination. The trumpet performance junior at the University of South Florida decided to take Mr. Mouse and Co. to court after he applied for a trumpet player position and was told by a supervisor that while he was totally qualified for the job, he did not have the "Disney look" and wouldn't be hired. Which has to make you wonder--what exactly is the Disney look?

Well, I can tell you what it isn't, according to the hiring guy: You can't look like a Sikh. And that's exactly what the prospective horn player is, and he has the turban and beard required by his religion. His lawyers add they have a witness who heard the supervisor tell the applicant he didn't fit the Disney image, and that it was clear the reference was to the beard and turban. One of the lawyers said, "If Disney is regarded as an iconic American company, what is an American supposed to look like?" I guess something more along the lines of Snow White.

More Outrageous Than Miley?

Dads Get Screwed For Staying At Home

Pregnancy Discrimination Complaints On the Rise

Kelly Mills — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:31:00 GMT

The Wall Street Journal reports that pregnancy-bias job complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were up by 14 percent this year, and up by 40 percent from a decade ago. Employers aren't allowed to discriminate against the with child in hiring, firing, and lay-offs--which doesn't mean they can't do all those things to you, it just means they can't treat you worse than men. So essentially you have to prove that the actions were motivated by the fact that you were pregnant, which isn't always easy.

While many women also assume they get maternity leave, the truth is that only a couple states guarantee the leave must be paid. And though some ladies do pursue claims against employers, many opt to drop claims because of the time and hassle entailed. With a pregnancy or newborn, I'm sure you have all kinds of free time to work with attorneys and amass evidence and so on. But ultimately some women are successful, like the HR manager who was laid off as part of a reduction-in-force, only to discover the reduction encompassed only her. And if we can do anything to encourage women to pursue action, we'd damn well better do it, or employers will be able to continue to shut out those that are in a family way.

Pregcellent: Does Being Pregnant Hurt Your Chances of Getting Hired?

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:03:00 GMT

Ummm, yeah. It's shouldn't, legally or ethically, but I really do think that for most mamas-to-be, it might. At least that's my feeling and was my feeling from the early days of my pregnancy on. I was freelancing for a large fundraising corporation when I found out I was barely pregnant. I was well into the symptoms but weeks away from telling my parents when I met with my supervisor about an opening she had for a full-time employee on her staff. I wasn't sold on working for her permanently but the decision made itself when she leaned across the desk and aggressively, flippantly said, "I'd love to hire you if you can promise me you won't get pregnant any time soon or anything like that..I'd need at least a year commitment on that."

This was a woman with two kids who fought her way into the executive offices after years as a stay at home mom and yet, there she was putting my fertility at the top of my resume. I didn't want this woman choosing my take-out lunch order for me let alone when I'd grow a human in my body and welcome a child into our family. The job opportunity (obviously) didn't go anywhere and two weeks later, I quit the whole freelancing gig altogether. I never told her I was already pregnant but I also fretted about working before the birth of my child and seriously doubted I could get a job at Starbucks once my belly started poking out.

I know my experience is total bullshit and also not extraordinary and this saddens and infuriates me. I know this because I've heard many women debating the right timing to share their pregnancy news with a supervisor, a new boss or even the person interviewing them for a fabulous new job. I don't just hate that people don't think women who are or might be pregnant should cast aside the classifieds with caffeine and lunch meat, but I hate that women doubt whether they should even apply for a job if they're even thinking about conceiving.

Some people (apparently those who haven't seen a copy of Ms. magazine ever) really believe that it is unfair for women to expect or pursue anything professionally once their wombs are occupied. And while other folks can site stats and crunch numbers about maternity leave and absenteeism, I think the bigger question is, "Do we socially and professionally value women who are choosing motherhood and careers at all?" Sure, it is a question for the ages, but one we need to continue to ask, to talk with among other job candidates, demand responses to from business owners and hiring squads and managers, and ask ourselves as we belly up to the reality.

There's a hot-button conversation going on over at Confessions of a Community College Dean about pregnancy and breaking into academia (so hot that it has been noted by the Chronicle of Higher Education). The dean himself has a fabulous response to a question about how much pregnancy factors into hiring decisions and the comments that follow are quite heated and interesting as well.

Whether you are an academic or an artist or an inventory stocker at Gap, have you ever been worried about being hired or promoted because you were pregnant or even just considering conception?