PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION

Settled a case where Plaintiff was an Administrative Assistant assigned by a staffing company to a hospital. Plaintiff claimed she had been told she was doing such a good job and that she would be brought in as a regular full-time employee within a few months. Plaintiff became pregnant and within a short time after advising the employer, the employer notified the staffing agency that due to operational changes, it would no longer need someone in Plaintiff’s position. Plaintiff sued both the hospital and staffing agency for pregnancy discrimination. The staffing agency stated it was unable to find another client to send Plaintiff to. The hospital claimed it did not have any open positions and the job it had talked to her about initially no longer existed due to a major restructuring.

Resolved a case in which the Plaintiff alleged she was terminated because of her pregnancy and not because of performance issues. She further alleged that the owner of the defendant company had numerous times told her she should get an abortion and would not be a good mother. She alleged harassing and discriminatory comments were made to her when the owner said her abusive behavior and rude treatment of subordinate employees were due to her “hormones” because of her pregnancy. The employer contended that its termination of Plaintiff was due entirely to numerous subordinate employee complaints about her management style and she had been properly counseled and failed a specific Performance Improvement Plan.