Dive Temporary:
- A barber and hairstyling school in Texas agreed to settle claims introduced by the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee alleging it rejected an applicant due to her being pregnant, EEOC mentioned Thursday.
- EEOC introduced its lawsuit towards Dallas Barber & Stylist School, Inc., in 2024, alleging the employer rejected a candidate for a hair braider place despite her profitable completion of a expertise take a look at. EEOC claimed this was as a result of the employer already employed one other pregnant worker and that an proprietor mentioned using two such staff wouldn’t be within the “greatest curiosity” of the enterprise.
- In line with a consent decree between the events, the employer agreed to offer again pay with curiosity, compensatory and punitive damages, and different reduction together with updates to its insurance policies and workforce coaching. The corporate didn’t admit violations of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Dive Perception:
Being pregnant discrimination has featured closely in EEOC’s litigation exercise beneath Chair Andrea Lucas. In February, for instance, the fee sued operators of Washington, D.C., restaurant chain Correct 21 for allegedly pressuring a pregnant worker to take maternity go away early, firing her whereas on go away and changing her with a male worker. Litigation within the case stays ongoing.
Final yr, EEOC introduced a collection of settlements in being pregnant discrimination instances, one in every of which concerned an employer’s alleged refusal to schedule a brief employee upon studying of her being pregnant, after which firing the employee.
Employers violate Title VII — as amended by the Being pregnant Discrimination Act — after they discriminate towards staff on the idea of being pregnant, together with within the hiring course of, in response to EEOC steerage.
“If an employer rejects a professional applicant due to her being pregnant, the EEOC stands able to implement federal legislation and treatment that illegal conduct,” Linda Gross sales-Lengthy, performing district director for EEOC, mentioned within the company’s press launch.
Congress additional bolstered protections for pregnant staff in 2022 with passage of the Pregnant Staff Equity Act, which requires employers to offer office lodging to such staff or these with pregnancy- or childbirth-related well being circumstances.
EEOC, tasked with implementing the PWFA, finalized a rule in 2024 in the course of the Biden administration. The rule proved politically controversial as a consequence of its inclusion of abortion beneath its definition of the medical circumstances for which employers are required to offer lodging.
A number of court docket choices have since enjoined EEOC from enforcement of the rule’s abortion-related protections. Lucas opposed the rule at time of its adoption and took particular situation with the company’s interpretation of the listing of medical circumstances lined by the PWFA.
Nevertheless, EEOC continues to implement the PWFA’s provisions. In February, an Oklahoma medical clinic agreed to settle with the company in a lawsuit alleging it didn’t accommodate an worker who had a high-risk being pregnant. The company claimed in its criticism that the employer’s HR workers had not been conscious of the PWFA.
