Corner Bar, a bar on South Lamar Boulevard in Austin, Texas, agreed to pay $42,000 and provide other relief to resolve a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The EEOC alleged that a bartender's work hours were reduced soon after she became visibly pregnant and that, after she was hospitalized for a virus, her manager called to terminate her employment, telling her she was becoming too much of a liability and that there was concern something bad might happen to her. The employer removed her from the schedule and reassigned her shifts to other employees.

The EEOC alleges this conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.

Under a three-year consent decree, Corner Bar must adopt and implement a written anti-discrimination policy, provide training to all employees, and post a notice affirming its obligations under federal employment discrimination laws. It is enjoined from engaging in, or permitting, unlawful discrimination against applicants or employees based on pregnancy.

EEOC officials emphasized that reducing hours or otherwise treating an employee unfavorably because of pregnancy is unlawful.

Source: https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/corner-bar-pay-42000-eeoc-pregnancy-discrimination-lawsuit

Commentary

In the above matter, the manager terminated a pregnant employee claiming that the employee was becoming a "liability" and there was concern "something bad" may happen to her.

Managers and supervisors may believe they are "protecting" a pregnant employee by limiting her hours, changing her duties, or ending her employment based on their own view of what is best for her health or the employee and/or the baby. However, these behaviors for an employee's "own good" effectively impose a penalty on pregnancy that non-pregnant employees in comparable roles do not face.

Under federal law, including Title VII as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and, in many situations, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, those decisions are illegal when they are motivated by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions rather than by neutral, job-related criteria.

Only if a pregnant employee requests reasonable accommodations should an employer have any commentary about a pregnancy, and then the comments will be pertinent to implementing an interactive process to work with the pregnant employee's healthcare provider to determine reasonable accommodations. Employment decisions must be based on the employee's actual performance, qualifications, and restrictions communicated by the employee or her healthcare provider, not on stereotypes, assumptions, paternalistic, or misogynistic judgments about what a pregnant worker can or should do.