Too High a Price to Pay

By Hanna Lessinger

An Idaho chemical company has been accused of withholding jobs from women unless they could show that they had been medically sterilized. The case at the Bunker Hill Co. is a virtual replay of that at the American Cyanamid plant in West Virginia last year. There the company sought to avoid lawsuits about damage to female employees' reproductive ability by forcing them to be sterilized.

Carol Hammond of Kingston, Idaho, filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last spring, after a Bunker Hill official told her he would not look at her application for a laborer's job unless she brought in proof that she had been sterilized. "Around here it's known policy," said Hammond. "A lot of women don't go up there to get hired unless they've already had it done." As with the West Virginia plant, Bunker Hill is the only major employer in the area. Hammond applied for the job because it offered her $7 an hour. OSHA has filed 108 separate complaints against the Bunker Hill plant and is seeking $82,765 in penalties for the company's violation of federal regulations on lead and cyanide exposure levels. Un-

fortunately, OSHA does not have a particularly good record of successful prosecutions. Its suit against American Cyanamid on behalf of five women who

I SEE IT AS FREEDOM OF CHOICE. EACH WOMAN DECIDES FOR HERSELF HOW SHE WANTS TO BE EXPLOITED,

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were sterilized in order to keep their jobs was thrown out earlier this year by an OSHA administrative judge.

Pregnancy and Your Job

By Loretta Feller

Did you know that a federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions?

Basically the law says that your employer must treat disabilities arising out of pregnancy the same as disabilities which are not related to pregnancy. In other words, once you are no longer able to work because of some problem connected with your pregnancy, your employer must provide the same benefits to you that s/he gives to other employees with temporary disabilities, such as a broken leg, a heart attack, or a hernia operation.

Pregnancy itself is not considered a disability, since each woman may be affected differently. For this reason, the law also protects you from being forced off the job before your doctor says you are disabled. This was supported by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark casc, Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur.

The law does not specify what benefits, if any, your employer must provide. If your employer makes no provisions for employees with other temporary disabilities and does not hold their jobs for them, then s/he will not have to do those things for you either.

You should check to see what kinds of arrangements your company makes for its employees under its temporary disability leave policy. If your company does not have a written policy, then you should find out what provisions have been made in the past for other temporarily disabled employees, because you should be treated, the same way. Specifically, you may want to inquire about your employer's policies and practices concerning temporary assignment to light duty, length of leave, wage reimbursement and benefit coverage while on leave, accrual of seniority, and reinstatement to the same or a similar job.

Keep in mind that if you elect to take a leave of absence before or after you deliver, and you are not actually disabled, you are more likely to jeopardize your benefits and job security. If you leave voluntarily, your employer does not have to treat you as though you are disabled. You should have statements

-The Guardian October 29, 1980

from your doctor regarding when you are no longer able to work and when you are released to return to work.

If you have questions about your particular situation or if you believe you are being discriminated against because of your pregnancy and wish to file charges, call the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at 522-2001.

Pentagon Protest

Throughout the Northeast, women have joined together to sponsor two days of opposition to the military violence of the Pentagon and the sexual and economic violence in the everyday lives of all women. On Sunday, November 16, women will gather in Washington, D.C. to meet and share political concerns, resources and experiences in a candle-light vigil.

The first all-woman protest at the Pentagon in 12 years has been set for Monday, November 17. The action will be divided into four time blocks during which participants will dramatically express mourning, rage, empowerment and defiance in sequence. The latter will include optional nonviolent civil disobedience.

A Statement of Unity adopted by the organizers has coalesced the diverse women and addressed wide concerns, including the poisoning of the earth, the destruction of the cities, the sterilization of women, the closing of schools and hospitals: "We call for what women need in our ordinary lives: good food, useful work, equal pay for work of equal value, freedom from violence" in our streets and homes, an end to racism, sexism, homophobia. We want the uranium left in the earth and the earth given back to the people who tilled it. We want an end to the arms race, and no more bombs."

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The Statement of Unity is being used not only in organizing support for the Washington actions, but also as an educational political tool in and of itself. The Women's Pentagon Action states: "We know there is a healthy, sensible, loving way to live and we intend to live that way in our neighborhoods, on our farms, in these United States and among our sisters and brothers in all the countries of the world."

BITS & PIECES

New Tax Hope

(HerSay)-In what could be a landmark decision for feminist groups, a federal appeals court in Washington has directed authorities to take another look at an application by the publication Big Mama Rag for tax-exempt status. A feminist monthly published in Colorado, Big Mama Rag has been denied its third appeal for tax exemption although it is operated by volunteers and gives away most of its copies. The judge in the case ruled the paper "doctrinaire" because it reserved the right to reject material which did not further the struggle of

women.

The Internal Revenue Service requires that nonprofit groups give "full and fair" factual accounts if they are to obtain tax-exempt status as educational organizations. The appeals court found, however, that the "full and fair" educational requirement is so unconstitutionally vague that it limits free speech.

As a result of the Washington appeals court decision, Big Mama Rag will have a new hearing on its tax-exemption application. A breakthrough in the case could mean easier access to favorable tax status for feminist and alternative publications across the country.

Charming Idea

(HerSay) The co-owner of a women's professional basketball team isn't just sending the players to training camp-but to a charm school as well. Larry Kozlicki sent the Omaha Rangers to the John Robert Powers modeling school last November on the theory that the five-week course would improve their poise and their ability to give eye-catching interviews.

Kozlicki isn't sure if he'll take advantage of the modeling school facilities a second time, however: "I don't know why really, but the girls just didn't take to the idea last season."

Bun the Bomb

(HerSay)-An Oakland, California peace group recently held a bake sale for the Pentagon. The group, called the "Oakland Committee for Jobs with Peace/Yes on G," wanted to dramatize the need for passage of "G," a measure calling for a change in federal spending priorities.

The group says it held the bake sale because it will be a "great day when our schools, hospitals and day care centers have all the money they need and the Pentagon has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." The proceeds from the bake sale will be forwarded to Defense Secretary Harold Brown.

Pentagon Poetry

(HerSay)-The woman pioneer of computer programming has received belated recognition from, of all places, the Pentagon, which has chosen to name its new computer language "Ada" after Augusta Ada Byron. Working in the early 1800's, Byron prepared instructions for English inventor Charles Babbage's "analytical engine," the predecessor of today's computers.

Prior to becoming the Pentagon computer language's namesake, Byron had chiefly been heralded by historians only as the daughter of poet Lord Byron.

November, 1980/What She Wants/Page 5