Suit claims anti-pregnancy bias by AT&T unit
NEW YORK — Represented by high-powered lawyers, two women filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing AT&T’S mobile phone subsidiary of firing them for pregnancy-related absences in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
The women allege that AT&T Mobility’s attendance policy discriminates against pregnant women. According to the class-action lawsuit, both women were fired after accruing points for missing work because of pregnancy-related medical care and, in one plaintiff ’s case, her infant son’s emergency medical needs.
The plaintiffs, Katia Hills and Cynthia Allen, filed their claim on behalf of all female non-managerial employees in AT&T Mobility’s retail stores nationwide.
AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said the company was reviewing the complaint, adding, “We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind, including for an employee’s gender or pregnancy.”
The attorneys handling the lawsuit — from the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Cohen Milstein — said it could have national implications for the legal boundaries of attendance policies like the one used by AT&T Mobility.
Known as “no-fault” policies, they have become popular among some large employers. Under the policies, employees are assessed demerits for unauthorized attendance lapses, regardless of the reason.
“They treat employees like cogs, but employees aren’t cogs” said attorney Gillian Thomas of the ACLU’S Women’s Rights Project. “They’re human. They get pregnant. They get sick. They have families that need to be taken care of.”
According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hills worked at an AT&T Mobility store in Elkhart, Indiana, from April 2014 until July 2015. She became pregnant in October 2014, and ensuing nausea and other symptoms sometimes caused her to be late or miss work.
She gave birth to a son in June 2015, returned from maternity leave in July, and two days later was fired because of demerits incurred for two pre-leave, pregnancy-related absences, the lawsuit contends.
Allen worked at AT&T Mobility stores in New York starting in December 2012 before transferring to a Las Vegas store in April 2017.
According to the lawsuit, when pregnancy-related illnesses required Allen to take time off before her son’s birth in December 2016, she submitted documentation from her health providers and was not told of any demerits. But when she returned from maternity leave in February 2017, the lawsuit says, Allen was told she’d been put on “final notice” due to the pre-birth absences, and she was fired the next month after missing two days to take her son for emergency medical care.