Caregivers,firm policies and gender discrimination claims

This paper explores a relatively new class of lawsuits claiming “caregiver discrimination.” Using the National Study of the Changing Workforce, it shows that claims of gender discrimination in general and caregiver discrimination in particular are more likely among women facing greater work-family conflict. Critically, firm policies that allow work from home or the use of personal time off to care for family needs are associated with reduced claims of caregiver discrimination holding all else constant. Importantly, these reduced claims are uniquely among women with greater family responsibilities.