We may say as a country that we value families and mothers, but a rise in job discrimination complaints by moms highlights how far most workplaces are from that ideal. Yesterday, to help clarify the responsibilities of employers, the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidelines on what kinds of discrimination against parents is illegal.

Under federal law, the guidelines explain, an employer cannot encourage career advancement for men with children, while denying promotions to women with children or otherwise stereotyping working women with children as less able to cope than their male counterparts.

But here's the sad and somewhat shocking part. Nothing in federal law stops an employer from discriminating against parents generally:

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