For some women in China, a good work performance is not enough to keep your job. You also need to follow your boss’s rules about pregnancy.

Recent Chinese media reports have shed light on the troubling phenomenon of “waiting in line to get pregnant,” in which some schools, banks and hospitals have assigned time windows to their female employees, stipulating when they are allowed to get pregnant.

Pan Jiayi, a kindergarten teacher, was fired by her employer for “violating company regulations” because her unexpected pregnancy “cut in line” for the queue of employee pregnancies, according to government-backed newspaper Jiancha Daily. The kindergarten, whose teachers are overwhelmingly female, had given priority to women welcoming their first-born, making anyone wanting a second child wait. Pan, based on her employers’ “comprehensive assessment,” was seventh in line when she became pregnant.

Pan eventually took her employer to court and won the case – but such labor discrimination remains widespread. A pregnant employee at a major commercial bank in the city of Shijiazhuang faced similar discriminatory treatment, Chinese newspaper Workers Daily reported Tuesday – she was asked to choose between her job and her baby.