Easy Way for Employers to Save $146,613+: Manage Employee Pregnancy Disability Leave Correctly

Hot off the presses from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):

Dallas-based Greenhouse Outpatient Center and its parent company, American Addiction Centers, agreed to damages of $146,613 and provide other relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

Had the employer correctly managed the employee’s pregnancy disability leave on the front end – typically 6 weeks for vaginal delivery or 8 weeks for caesarean section (or another length of leave determined by the employee’s physician, not by the employer) – as well as correctly identifying that pregnancy like any other employee disability event which typically guarantee the employee a return to a similarly situated job (state and federal leave requirements may vary based on your applicable state and Federal Family Medical Leave driven by employee count), they would have saved themselves a $146,613+ hit to their bottom line. Moreover: the employer’s (rigid) 30 days leave is atypical of pregnancy disability as outlined above. Additional details from the EEOC:

The Dallas rehabilitation center had granted the pregnant employee, a behavioral health tech­nician, a 30-day leave of absence for childbirth.

After the employee delivered the baby by caesarean section, which requires abdominal surgery, the employee’s doctor indicated she needed eight weeks to recover before returning to work. Human Resources, however, told the employee her position could not be held open beyond the 30 days, and her employment was terminated, according to the suit. In contrast, the defendants had granted leave during the past 30 days to non-pregnant employees for reasons un­related to pregnancy.

 Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy in the workplace. In this case, the EEOC sought back pay, plus compensatory and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief, including an order barring similar violations in the future.

Do you know how to correctly manage employee pregnancy disability leave requests to save a $146,613+ hit to your bottom line, in business and at work?