Iberia Airlines is mercifully no longer asking female employees to submit to pregnancy tests, something that sounds like it 100% shouldn't be happening at any place of employment. The Spanish airline was fined €25,000 ($29,000) for discriminating against women based on their pregnancy status by the regional government of Spain's Balearic Islands, according to The Local, an English-language news source in Spain.
Health minister Dolors Montserrat told reporters that she "rejected" the discriminatory practice. "Maternity can in no way be an obstacle for access to a job," she said.
The airline defended itself by saying that the test "was only done to guarantee that they (women) did not face any risks." Iberia said it has never denied a job to a pregnant woman, having contracted five women who were expecting last year. The company added that it has moved 60 female employees to various alternative roles to accommodate their pregnancies since the beginning of 2016.
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"Iberia never ceased to hire a woman because she was pregnant if she met the requirements for the position," the airline said in a statement. This is clearly missing the point: No woman should be forced to take a pregnancy test for job purposes, period, end of story.
People took to social media to criticize Iberia — and the airline is trying to quash its PR blunder by responding to many of the tweets.
#Women applying for all #jobs with #Spain's @Iberia #airlines were forced to take #pregnancy #tests until this week. https://t.co/8GzhQv4WfM
— Liz Goldenberg (@newstruthliz) July 12, 2017
Hello, Liz. We'd like to clarify that we never turned down women's applications due to their pregnancy. /1
— Iberia (@Iberia) July 12, 2017
Missing the point
— Liz Goldenberg (@newstruthliz) July 12, 2017
Absolutely shocking in this day and age #maternitydiscrimination #pregnancy #sexdiscrimination #emplaw https://t.co/MTqJlbadvH
— Fudia Smartt (@FudiaSmartt) July 12, 2017
#Iberia to drop discriminatory #pregnancy testing after fine - shows importance of proactive #labour inspectorate. https://t.co/BVU2ypnQ9j
— Ruwan Subasinghe (@RuwanSubasinghe) July 12, 2017
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