Pregnancy Discrimination Affects the Lives of Workers and Their Children

Rachel worked for more than ten years as a server at a Southern California resort.  Shortly after learning that she was pregnant, she informed her employer, who appeared to have no problem with the pregnancy.  But as Rachel's delivery date approached, her employer pressured her to to continue working the physically demanding job up to only twelve days before her she gave birth.  Because she was devoted to her work, Rachel submitted to her employer's demands without complaint.

After Rachel's baby was born, the doctor informed her that the baby suffered from Downs Syndrome.  When Rachel met with her employer three weeks after the birth to discuss her planned return to work, Rachel, her manager and the HR manager engaged in small talk during which her manager asked about the baby.  Rachel told them that her baby had Downs Syndrome.

The tone of the meeting changed and the HR manager told Rachel that she should consider staying home to take care of her baby because of the child's "disabilities."  The manager then told Rachel that she had been replaced because of her absence and her job was no longer available.  The manager told her to call back in a few weeks to see if new shifts were available.  Rachel called back in two weeks and the manager told her that there were no openings.  After several additional calls, and after learning that the resort had hired several new servers, Rachel gave up.

Then, she called Olender Pham.  Partner and employment litigator Henry Pham filed a civil suit with claims for:

• Pregnancy discrimination
• Disability discrimination
• Failure to provide reasonable accommodation (disability)
• Failure to provide reasonable accommodation (pregnancy)
• Failure to allow pregnancy disability leave
• Discrimination in violation of CFRA
• Retaliation in violation of CFRA
• Wrongful termination in violation of public policy
  (Cal. Gov. Code Sec. 12940(a)-(o)

The resort hired prominent law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP to represent it.  The resort initially resisted efforts to settle and asserted no wrongdoing. 

Following a pregnancy disability leave, an employee generally has the right to be reinstated to the same position she held before the leave.  2 Cal. C. Regs. Section 7291(c)(1).

It is unlawful for an employer to fail to provide reasonable accommodations to a pregnant woman, to discriminate based on pregnancy, or based on the disabilities of an employee's child.  After relatively short litigation, Henry was able to work with his client and with the employer's attorney to reach a just settlement compensating Rachel for the improper treatment she received including losing her job.

If you believe that you have been discriminated against because of your pregnancy, please visit our pregnancy discrimination page or contact us for a free consultation.