Doing laundry can damage your fine jewelry. Chlorine found in bleach dissolves the alloys found in white and yellow gold. This chemical process weakens the gold and can cause stress cracking and can cause ring bands and prongs holding stones to break. All jewelry should be removed before chlorine bleach is used in the laundry room for any purpose.
This same problem can occur within swimming pools and hot tubs. The chlorine found in hot tubs is five times more damaging because of the high temperatures and increased concentrations.
