co-written with Rachel Dempsey In the last post, we talked about the problem of pregnancy discrimination against women in hourly jobs - cases where mothers were refused simple accommodations that would help them have healthy pregnancies. Discrimination against pregnant women and mothers is a huge problem for working-class women, for whom a single missed day at work could mean that they lose both their jobs and the ability to support their families. Professional women, by and large, are more likely to have flexible schedules and are more likely to be given paid maternity leave than working-...

For years I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning every Black Friday, leaving the kids with my mother-in-law, and get to the mall by 6:15 am. Every year, I would return six or seven hours later, loaded down with presents, and my mother-in-law would say, “There you are! I took care of your kids while you went out and had a good time shopping.” I don’t, in fact, have a good time shopping. Maybe I’m the only woman in America who thinks this, but the only thing worse than going shopping is going shopping in a mall. Still, my Black Friday blitz got a lot of the torture out of the way all in one day...

Cross-posted from New Deal 2.0 . When the second Google hit (after Wikipedia) for "corporate cronyism" links to a speech by Sarah Palin, you know why progressives need Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street's power lies in the "We are the 99%" theme. The poignant and evocative stories on the Tumblr of that name feature hard-working, settled, middle-class families who have had the rug pulled out from under them by recent economic conditions. A single mom who put herself through college and grad school only to lose her job due to chronic illness, who now can't sell her house and worries that...

Cross-posted from New Deal 2.0 . In the debate over work-life balance, there's one argument we can't seem to move past: Women have made a choice to have kids. Now they have to live with their decision and all of its consequences. But this argument rests on an underlying assumption that, when challenged, just doesn't hold up. If faced with a stark choice between work and family, the Jack Welches of the world seem to think women are going to choose family, while men are going to choose work. Otherwise the idea of a workforce that doesn't need time off for childbearing doesn't make sense. Kids...

This week's Time Magazine cover story, " Chore Wars ," is a wake-up call for those who think men and women are approaching parity, at home and in the workplace. After the huge steps made towards equality in the latter half of the 20th century, progress is stalling out. Of course, that's not how the magazine presents the data. Their spin is that women and men actually do more equal amounts of work than ever - an average of 51.7 hours a week for men (40.6 paid, 11.1 unpaid) and an average of 49.9 for women (22.2 paid, 27.7 unpaid). So women who complain about being overwhelmed need to stop...

Last Monday, unions and employers came together to make work-life balance a reality for hourly workers. The common assumption is that workplace flexibility is impractical for hourly workers. Not so: On Monday, models emerged to offer workplace flexibility in three contexts where it might seem impossible: health care, restaurants and small business. Jennifer Piallat, owner of Zazie Restaurant in San Francisco, is busy inventing a new model of the restaurant business. The classic model gives servers unstable schedules that change from day to day and week to week. There are good reasons for this...

Even before I read about it in The New York Times , I heard about the decision of Kansas City federal district judge Eric F. Melgren, scolding lawyers who had refused the request of opposing counsel to reschedule a trial on the grounds that a key attorney's wife was scheduled to have a baby. The backstory: In 2008, a pretty standard commercial lawsuit was filed. The trial date was set for June 14, 2011. But the due date of the attorney who had handled much of the case prep (notably the interviews of key witnesses) was July 3. The trial was only estimated to last for four days, but the soon-to...

This article originally appeared on New Deal 2.0 . Sunday's New York Times reported that accounting firms lead corporate America in offering workplace flexibility. Employees can reduce their hours, take the summer off, take off a few years and then return to their prior jobs... whatever they need. And the firms are committed to ensuring that flexible options don't hurt prospects for advancement. Why are the accounting firms out in front? For a simple reason: they do the numbers. It costs 1.5 times a worker's annual salary to replace a professional who leaves. So when workplace flexibility...

When I decided to leave my job of 25 years and move with my family to San Francisco, my husband told me he was going to talk with the Chair of his Board and resign a job he loved. I suggested an alternative. "Why don't you say, I am staying with the organization, but I'm moving to San Francisco?" My husband came back the next evening, clearly astonished, announcing that the Chair had okayed the proposal. And I thought: "Things really are changing." That was 2005. Now they'll change faster. The Custom-Fit Workplace, by Joan Blades and Nanette Fondas, provides managers with the tools they need...