Be Careful When Firing the Pregnant Human Resources Manager.

 
They usually know where the bodies are buried (and who buried them).

In this very comprehensive opinion from Judge Altonaga, the Judge denies defendant Crown ("rocking lounge") Liquors' motion for summary judgment on a FMLA claim brought by the human resources manager:

It appears to the Court that the parties can hardly dispute whether Williams’s discharge was motivated by her pregnancy-related conditions. Crown itself states the following:

. . . WILLIAMS’ claim of discriminatory treatment regarding working at home misses the larger point that, in the June 18 understanding, CROWN allowed her to work at home for the duration of her pregnancy. This understanding was defeated, not by CROWN’S insistence that she work in the office, but by WILLIAMS’ deteriorating medical condition.
(SMF ¶ 34) (emphasis added).

No one disputes that this deteriorating medical condition was due to Williams’s pregnancy. This purported change in the understanding, from Crown’s point of view, is what led to Williams’s termination. (See id. ¶ 35; Aug. 14 Letter). In fact, Judge Meale’s findings, which Crown endorses wholesale, could not be clearer in stating that the termination “was due to complications associated with her pregnancy.” (Recommended Order 4–5).

At the very least, there is an issue of fact as to whether Crown’s leave policies were applied unequally to Williams.

Nice win by Boca's Ellen Marcie Leibovitch! 

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