Bakery fires pastry cook because her pregnancy was a ‘reliability issue,’ feds say
A woman lost her job at a New Orleans bakery because her managers believed her pregnancy was “a reliability issue” after she missed two shifts on doctor’s orders, a federal lawsuit says.
Gracious Bakery + Café knew the woman was pregnant and hired her as a pastry cook in December 2020, when she completed her first few shifts as part of on-the-job training, according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
On the morning of what would’ve been her fourth day of work, the woman told her manager she was unable to make it because she needed “immediate” treatment at an emergency room “for abdominal pain related to her pregnancy,” a complaint says.
She was released from the hospital that day, according to the complaint, which says a doctor’s note said she could return to work two days later on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020.
The woman worked an 8-hour shift on Dec. 28 but then learned she was being fired because her managers were “concerned about her pregnancy,” the complaint says.
McClatchy News contacted Gracious Bakery + Café for comment on Feb. 23 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
The owner and manager of Gracious, LLC, which runs the bakery, texted the woman afterward, acknowledging her “potential to do the job” — before writing “unfortunately…there’s a reliability issue that makes it difficult to continue with the training period,” according to the complaint.
The company provided screenshots of the text messages to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is suing the business on the woman’s behalf.
In response to the woman’s request for clarification on the reliability concerns, the company owner texted her saying “I’m by no means saying you yourself are not reliable — but the X factor of being pregnant creates unreliability,” according to the complaint.
The EEOC is suing Gracious LLC, accusing it of pregnancy discrimination by firing the woman, the agency announced in a Feb. 22 news release.
“An employer who acts on harmful stereotypes about a pregnant worker’s reliability violates the law,” Rudy Sustaita, a regional attorney for the EEOC’s Houston district office, said in a statement.
In the text messages included in the lawsuit, the owner of Gracious told the woman that they would “love” to hire her again after she gave birth, the complaint shows.
However, the woman was able to do the job before having her baby, according to the EEOC, which says firing her was in violation of two federal laws: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Firing the woman for “pregnancy or related medical conditions” violates Title VII, and firing her “because of a perceived impairment — complications from pregnancy,” violates the ADA, according to the complaint.
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