How Much Is a Pregnancy Discrimination Case Worth in California?

There is no reliable “average” pregnancy discrimination settlement, and any page that quotes one without a source is guessing. What the verified numbers do show: federal EEOC charges that ended in a payment averaged roughly $26,000 in fiscal year 2025, before any lawsuit was filed. California juries, meanwhile, have awarded pregnant workers anywhere from a few million dollars to a record $185 million. Where a case lands between those points depends on facts you can usually assess early, and on the fact that California law, unlike federal law, puts no cap on damages.

What the Official Numbers Show

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission publishes how pregnancy-discrimination charges are resolved each year. These are real figures, not estimates:

In FY 2025, 642 pregnancy charges ended with money for the worker (321 settlements, 290 withdrawals with benefits, and 31 successful conciliations). Spread across those cases, the $16.87 million works out to about $26,000 per resolution. That figure is our own calculation from the EEOC’s Table E4d. A separate law, the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, produced another $18.35 million in FY 2025 for workers denied pregnancy accommodations.

Read these numbers for what they are. The EEOC’s own footnotes say they exclude anything recovered through a lawsuit, and they exclude complaints filed with state agencies, which means most California complaints, filed with the Civil Rights Department, are not counted at all. They describe the federal administrative process: the floor, before anyone goes to court.

What California Juries Have Awarded

At the other end are verdicts, and two California cases show how far a pregnancy claim can go when a jury hears the evidence:

• Juarez v. AutoZone Stores, Inc. (S.D. Cal. 2014): $185,872,719.52. A San Diego jury found that a store manager was demoted and later fired after she became pregnant. It awarded $872,719.52 in compensatory damages, then $185 million in punitive damages, which is believed to be the largest single-plaintiff employment verdict in U.S. history. AutoZone challenged the award after trial, and the judge urged the parties to reach a compromise. (Los Angeles Times)
• Kourtney Liggins v. the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (Los Angeles jury, 2018): $3.57 million. A Los Angeles jury awarded this sum to an unmarried Catholic school teacher who said her principal told her, when she was seven months pregnant, that her pregnancy would “morally corrupt” her students. She was later fired. (Los Angeles Sentinel)

Verdicts like these are the exception, not the norm. Most pregnancy claims settle, often confidentially, and a jury’s number is not always what a plaintiff collects: large awards are routinely challenged after trial. What these cases do show is the range of risk an employer faces, and that risk is what drives settlement value.

Why a California Case Is Worth More Than a Federal One

The same facts can be worth very different amounts depending on which law applies. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) is far more protective than federal Title VII:

The missing cap is the difference that matters most. Under Title VII, a worker at a 400-person company can never recover more than $200,000 in combined emotional-distress and punitive damages, however bad the conduct. Under FEHA there is no ceiling, which is why the Juarez verdict was possible at all.

What Goes Into a Pregnancy Discrimination Recovery

What Moves the Number Up or Down

• What happened to you. A termination is usually worth more than a demotion or a cut in hours, and a demotion more than a denied request.
• Timing. An adverse action soon after you announced a pregnancy, asked for an accommodation, or requested leave is strong circumstantial evidence.
• What was said. Direct comments about your pregnancy, like the “morally corrupt” remark in the Liggins case, are the evidence juries react to most.
• Your record. Good reviews before the pregnancy and criticism that appears only afterward point to pretext.
• How your pay was replaced. The longer you are out of work, and the more you earned, the larger the economic loss.
• Who made the decision. Involvement by a senior manager or officer opens the door to punitive damages.
• Whether you signed an arbitration agreement. Arbitration awards tend to be lower than jury verdicts. Unlike sexual harassment claims, pregnancy discrimination claims are not covered by the federal law that lets harassment victims opt out of arbitration.

For a first estimate based on your own numbers, try our case value calculator.

How Long a Pregnancy Discrimination Case Takes

You generally have three years to file a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department, and one year after receiving a right-to-sue notice to file in court. Once a lawsuit is filed, a case in Los Angeles Superior Court commonly takes 18 months to three years to reach trial. Many settle sooner, often at mediation or after key depositions. Waiting rarely helps: evidence goes stale and deadlines run.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can you win from a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit? In California there is no legal maximum. FEHA does not cap emotional-distress or punitive damages, and California juries have awarded pregnant workers from a few million dollars to a record $185 million in Juarez v. AutoZone. Most cases settle for far less than headline verdicts, and the value of any one case depends on the evidence, the lost wages, and who made the decision.

What is the average payout for maternity discrimination? There is no reliable public average for lawsuits. The closest official figure is the EEOC’s: pregnancy charges that ended in a payment averaged about $26,000 in fiscal year 2025, by our calculation from EEOC data. That covers only the federal administrative process and excludes both lawsuits and most California complaints, so it is a floor, not a typical outcome.

What is the average settlement in discrimination cases in California? No official California average exists. The Civil Rights Department does not publish per-case settlement figures, and the EEOC’s numbers exclude complaints filed with state agencies. Be skeptical of any single average: California discrimination settlements range from low five figures to well over seven, depending on the facts.

How long does a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit take? Once filed, a case in Los Angeles Superior Court commonly takes 18 months to three years to reach trial, though many settle earlier at mediation. Before that, you generally have three years to file with the Civil Rights Department and one year after your right-to-sue notice to file suit.

Is it hard to prove pregnancy discrimination? It depends on the evidence. Direct comments about your pregnancy make a case much stronger, but most cases are built on circumstantial proof: timing close to your announcement or leave request, criticism that began only after you disclosed, and treatment different from co-workers who were not pregnant. Save emails, texts, and performance reviews now.

Talk to a Los Angeles Pregnancy Discrimination Lawyer

If you were fired, demoted, or denied an accommodation because you were pregnant, our Los Angeles pregnancy discrimination attorneys can tell you what your case is realistically worth. Bluestone Law represents employees only, works on contingency, and charges no fee unless we win. Call (310) 363-0975 for a free, confidential consultation. Related: Pregnancy Disability Leave in California and CFRA leave.