She showed up at a new job pregnant. The boss said she belonged at home. She's filed suit
A Bristol woman is suing an East Providence cleaning service, alleging that the company offered her a job but fired her when she showed up for her orientation and they learned she was pregnant.
Julia Schultz, 27, had been working as a nanny until early 2021, when the family for whom she worked could no longer afford her services after the mother's work hours were cut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She saw an ad for Merry Maids and applied online. The company offered her a job.
I am very excited to add you to the team!” manager Deborah A. Bellamy-Goslin told her, according to the suit.
Schultz was told to report for orientation on May 10 dressed for cleaning.
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Arrived at orientation 'ready to go'
"I showed up in my jeans and sneakers, ready to go," Schultz told The Providence Journal on Monday. The outfit, with a T-shirt, didn't hide her pregnancy. "It was pretty obvious."
There was no orientation for Schultz.
"I was just kind of directly taken to this back room and asked to wait here," she told the paper.
Bellemy-Goslin joined her there.
“Honey, I need to ask if you are pregnant,” the manager asked, according to the suit.
Schultz said she was.
“I’m not going to be able to offer you the job because of the physical demands," Bellamy-Goslin told her, according to the suit. "You should be at home taking care of that special gift from God."
The manager told Schultz she could reapply after the baby was born, according to the suit.
'I actually felt ashamed'
Schultz was shocked. "I actually felt ashamed," the single mom-to-be told The Journal. "I felt like I was doing something wrong getting a job trying to take care of my daughter."
She didn't know what to do. "I went in my car and called my mom, hysterically crying."
Her mother, Holly Boudreau, told her to call the American Civil Liberties Union.
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The lawsuit against Merry Maids
On Monday, Mark P. Gagliardi, a lawyer affiliated with the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, filed suit on Schultz's behalf, alleging discrimination based on sex and her pregnancy. The suit seeks that Schultz be reinstated to the job she was offered and be paid back pay and benefits. It also seeks punitive damages.
On Monday, Bellamy-Goslin told The Journal, "I don't really want to talk about it right now."
After Merry Maids, Schultz got a job at a summer camp in Barrington, and then had her daughter, Alianna, on Oct. 12. She has since resumed working as a nanny while attending Rhode Island College part-time.
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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI woman sues cleaning company after being denied job during pregnancy
