Hours cut due to pregnancy

[misntim]

I recently found out I was pregnant and worked in the veterninay field as a tech. When I told the Dr. I was working for I was pregnant, due to risks with cat feces, anesthesia, restraint, and chemicals my hours were cut. Or, as they said "lateral transfer" for the safety of my unborn child for the duration of my pregnancy. I went from 37 hours to 24 and I am wondering if this is legal. I ended up quitting my job 3 days later and am hoping to get unemployment... I am wondering if anyone has any advice on this topic. Am I entitled?

[Pattymd]

It is pretty well known that working around cat feces is contraindicated for pregnant women. If the employer was not able to accommodate your full hours with duties that did not include such work, then it was probably legal to cut your hours. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised that your OB did not specify that you could not work around cat feces. It appears to me that your hours were not cut BECAUSE you are pregnant, but because the work you were doing was no longer medically safe for you to do. Yes, the reason for that is that you are pregnant, but as long as the employer would do the same for any other nonpregnant employee whose medical condition caused certain work to be unsafe, I don't see a violation here. However, there are others here who are more knowledgeable about this than I, so I'll be interested in hearing other responses.