A Pennsylvania woman said that she was fired because she missed 11 days of work after complications from her pregnancy. After she sued for sex and pregnancy discrimination, her employer counter-sued for $50,000, saying she broke a four-year employment contract. She is suing for an unspecified figure for back and front pay, with 2.5 years left from her employment contract, punitive damages, compensatory damages, and attorneys fees and costs.
Philadelphia Labor and Employment Lawyers say the case represents inconsistency in enforcing pregnancy discrimination laws, which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said is a long overdue issue.
The woman, a chiropractor based in Pennsylvania, began working at Herman Chiropractic Center in Waynesboro in January 2006. She notified her employer that she was pregnant in February 2007, and then missed 11 days of work because of hyperemesis gravidarum, which is a severe form of morning sickness that can cause dehydration, her court filing states.
After various doctor appointments, visits to the emergency room and submission of doctors notes, she called her employer March 26, 2007, stating that she was coming into the office. The owner of the practice informed her that the way the office was being run was unsatisfactory, and told her not to come back.
Her employer cancelled her health insurance benefits within days of the phone call. She never received a termination letter. The employer hired her replacement in early April, according to Pittsburgh Labor and Employment Defense Lawyers.
According to her employment agreement, if she left her job before the end of the four-year period, she was required to pay $50,000 for training and lost patient services. Her employer is counter-suing for that amount.
She filed discrimination claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and sued for pregnancy and sex discrimination. While many discrimination cases get dismissed on summary judgment, the case will get a jury trial, scheduled for May.
With her daughter almost 5 years old, her attorney said that it can take a woman this long to get through the court system.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) hosted a public meeting on the subject of pregnancy discrimination and caregiver issues Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C. The commission invited experts to testify about recent trends in discrimination against pregnant workers and workers with caregiving responsibilities.
The vice president and general counsel with the National Women's Law Center, said more women work during later stages of pregnancy now than before, but still face obstacles at the workplace.
During the meeting, representatives called for the EEOC to issue guidelines for courts and employers, which have found confusion in the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal to discriminate against a woman because of pregnancy, childbirth or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. Court enforcement of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act has been inconsistent. Other experts have said there is still work to be done regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act and Family and Medical Leave Act regarding maternity and paternity leave.
When the EEOC asked the meeting's panelists why discrimination continues to persist 35 years after the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed, a law professor and director of the Center for Work Life Law at the University of California-Hastings, said the stereotype regarding gender and caregiving are very strong.
Herman Chiropractic said it was not required to provide maternity leave as a small employer because the Family and Medical Leave Act applies to employers with 50 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year.
According to the court filing, her former employer, recalls their last conversation differently. He remembers asking if she were able to return to work and she stated she was not coming back or able to do so, the filing states. The owner understood this to mean that she was quitting.
Now living in New Jersey with her husband and daughter, she said she did not just lose a job, she lost almost everything, including her income and health insurance. She said she lost her marital home and had to move into her sister's basement. She has been unable to get another position like the one that was lost, and her daughter is now 4 years old.
Instead of complying with even simple, pregnancy-related medical restrictions, all too often employers seize the opportunity to rid themselves of the supposed liability pregnant workers pose to them. Pregnant women are losing their jobs because they might need to use the bathroom more frequently than 'normal,' and because they may need to sit down periodically. They are losing their jobs because they need to pump breast milk to feed their babies.
When working women become pregnant, many have expressed feeling as if they are walking a proverbial tightrope and could lose their jobs at any second. When pregnant women are fired from their jobs, everyone suffers.
A result of pregnancy discrimination and mothers' losing their jobs could be increased applications for government benefits, including unemployment compensation, medical assistance, and the federally funded Women, Infants and Children nutrition program. Pregnant workers and their families desperately need protection from the government to regulate and hold these employers accountable for their actions.
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