A pet store in Blaine will have to pay $22,000 to a woman it hired and fired an hour after she told a manager she was pregnant.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found Pet Ranch violated Hannah Grell’s rights under state law. The department announced Wednesday that along with the settlement, it will monitor the company for three years.

• 
  
  Related Minnesota company illegally fired woman because she was pregnant
  
  

Pregnancy discrimination is more common than you might think. A woman in Coon Rapids recently won a settlement from a dental office in a similar case. And last week the state fined Menards for docking a worker’s pay when she took breaks to pump.

At the national level, one in five mothers say they’ve experienced pregnancy discrimination at work, according to a survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center. And one in four have considered leaving their jobs out of fear of discrimination or a lack of accommodation.

Jerri Adams Belcher is an attorney at Wanta Thome Minneapolis who works on pregnancy discrimination and other employment cases. She joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to help break all this down.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.