‘I guess we’ll keep those DEI initiatives on a PowerPoint’: Pregnant woman at male-dominated company says her access to close parking was taken away

A pregnant woman called out her male-dominated company for taking away her access to parking close to the office building. 

Tammy (@tammyzayy) aired her grievances with the company’s human resources department on TikTok in a post that received 519,200 views as of this writing. 

She starts off by saying, “Here is a real day-in-the-life example of what it’s like to be a woman working in corporate America,” before providing some background on the entire situation. 

“I am currently six and a half months pregnant,” Tammy explains, as she pans the camera to her belly, and adds that she has to walk quite a distance from the main parking lot to the office building where her desk is. But, she says, this wasn’t always the case. 

“Up until a few weeks ago, I was approved and allowed by HR to park in the visitor’s lot, which is significantly closer to the building,” she says. 

“However,” Tammy continues, “our HR department has decided to single me out and communicate to my boss, not even to myself directly, and tell me that I am no longer allowed to park near the front of the building even though I am heavily pregnant.”

She says she politely responded with a “strongly-worded email” listing the many reasons the company should set aside a few parking spaces for pregnant workers. She adds that the company already has reserved parking for motorcyclists and employee of the month. She also shows her audience the visitor’s lot, which has a number of free spaces. 

Tammy notes that her company has also recently been trying to implement a number of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. She says she mentioned this in her email and added that having reserved spaces for pregnant workers would show a real commitment to these DEI initiatives. 

However, the HR department reportedly told Tammy that there were no available spaces to reserve two parking spots for pregnant people. 

“Mind you, I work in a company where it is 90 percent male,” Tammy says, adding, “I guess we’ll keep those DEI initiatives on a PowerPoint instead of being implemented in the workplace.”

What can she do?

As many commenters on Tammy’s post pointed out, pregnant workers now have various legal protections. 2023’s Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires that companies provide “reasonable accommodations” to pregnant workers, and a number of viewers suggested that Tammy bring this to the attention of her HR department.

“I might bring up the new pregnant workers fairness act… where they are supposed to provide reasonable accommodations,” one commenter said. 

“Closer parking would be considered a reasonable accommodation. You should ask them specifically to put in writing they are denying your accommodation,” another suggested. 

@tammyzayy (Mind you I work a hypbrid schedule and am only in the office 1 or 2x a week) Love fighting for womens rights in 2024!!! #dayinmylife #workingwoman #womeninbusiness #pov ♬ original sound - Tammy

Some also said the pregnant worker should file an official complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) if her company continued to refuse her access to a parking space closer to the building.

“By law they must accommodate you. Call the EEOC and make a complaint. If they conclude you’ve been discriminated for pregnancy, you can sue and get a pay day, while teaching them a lesson,” one viewer wrote. 

Someone with a job in human resources also left a comment saying, “HR here, please name the first and last names of those HR employees in your EEOC complaint … Let me know if I can help.”

The Daily Dot reached out to Tammy for updates via TikTok direct message.

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