A NEW SURVEY of fast food workers across the state revealed the difficulties of starting a family while holding down a job — and many don’t know their rights.
The California Fast Food Workers Union and nonprofit Legal Aid at Work published a report Monday cataloging fast food workers’ experiences with pregnancy and parenting in the workplace. The survey of 405 workers revealed frequent parental rights violations, such as restrictions on parental leave or breastfeeding at work.
Of the workers surveyed, 86% said they were worried about being retaliated against for taking time off for urgent medical care, prenatal care or maternity leave. More than half the workers surveyed, 67%, said they were financially unstable during their baby’s first year.
Sela Steiger, an attorney in Legal Aid at Work’s Work and Family Program, said while state protections for workers rights are robust, they are complicated and many are unaware of their rights. That makes workers vulnerable when employers don’t abide by the law.
“There’s a huge issue in terms of lack of knowledge,” Steiger told San José Spotlight. “There are also employers who don’t follow the law, they terminate people when they make their employer aware that they’re pregnant, so it’s also encouraging folks to understand what redress is available.”
California has protections for workers to take time off for a miscarriage or to bond with a new child, but 95% of workers surveyed said they didn’t know about miscarriage leave, and 85% said they didn’t know about paid bonding leave. There are other safety nets that help workers get paid during a leave related to pregnancy or parenting, such as Pregnancy Disability Leave.
Fast food workers have been rallying statewide for expanded rights and better protections for several years. The California Fast Food Workers Union fought to pass Assembly Bill 1228 in 2023, which raised the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour and established the Fast Food Council to oversee the industry, though the council has not yet begun robust policy discussions.
When family leave isn’t on the menu
Gilberta Acevedo, who works at a Taco Bell in San Jose, said when she was pregnant with her child three years ago, she was living paycheck to paycheck, and she didn’t have the funds to take time off of work. She worked until the week before her due date, when her doctor said she wouldn’t have the strength to give birth and told her about Pregnancy Disability Leave.
Acevedo said, after giving birth, she didn’t know state law requires employers to provide a clean and private place to breastfeed. She stopped breastfeeding after 8 months, even though her baby struggled to take formula, because she wasn’t able to breastfeed safely at work.
“I’m sharing my story because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to new parents who might not know about their rights,” Acevedo told San José Spotlight.
“There’s a huge issue in terms of lack of knowledge. There are also employers who don’t follow the law, they terminate people when they make their employer aware that they’re pregnant, so it’s also encouraging folks to understand what redress is available.
Sela Steiger, Legal Aid at Work
Acevedo said many workers, especially immigrants, are afraid to ask for time off or other accommodations.
The report found that the best way to combat workplace exploitation is to inform workers of their rights, and it encourages government officials to support Know Your Rights training programs. It found that there should be stronger mechanisms protecting workers from retaliation and discrimination at the state and local level.
“This type of work and these types of surveys are incredibly important to shed light on lack of awareness, but also how even when there are laws in place, really getting information into the hands of people who can use it is the most important,” Steiger told San José Spotlight.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.
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