Dive Brief:
- California-based staffing agency Eastridge Workforce Solutions agreed to pay $185,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency announced Wednesday.
- According to EEOC’s complaint, filed last September, the agency had a history of pregnancy discrimination since at least 2019, including jointly terminating the role of a worker placed at Feit Electric shortly after she disclosed her pregnancy.
- Under the three-year consent decree, in addition to the $185,000 payment, the staffing agency will expunge personnel records, provide neutral references and consider reinstating former employees. It will also provide training on pregnancy discrimination, review and potentially update its antidiscrimination policies, and more, EEOC said.
Dive Insight:
EEOC brought the lawsuit under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to clarify that pregnancy-based discrimination is included under the umbrella of sex discrimination.
EEOC has made many changes with the shift in administrations last year, but the agency’s focus on pregnancy discrimination — through enforcement of both the PDA and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act — has remained strong and steady.
The PWFA, in particular, was bound to gain attention as a new enforcement tool for the agency, a Seyfarth Shaw attorney noted to HR Dive last fall. Without a quorum, which it only recently regained, the agency likely pursued such actions as uncontroversial, “low-hanging fruit,” he said.
Recently, for example, EEOC brought a lawsuit against U.S. Steel, alleging the company refused to accommodate a pregnant worker and then shifted her to a lower-paid menial role.
“It is important that employers understand that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act created new and meaningful legal protections for pregnant workers,” Acting EEOC General Counsel Catherine Eschbach said in an agency statement. “Employers should promptly review and update their workplace policies and practices to ensure they comply with the law.”
