Retaliation for Taking Pregnancy Leave
Retaliation for Pregnancy Leave: Julie's Story
Julie, an outside sales representative at a Massachusetts print supply company, faced a troubling situation during her pregnancy and post-birth period. When she interviewed for the job, Julie was pregnant but hadn't yet disclosed her pregnancy. Her manager later conveyed that the role was unsuitable for women with children, making her uneasy about revealing her pregnancy.
After eventually sharing her pregnancy news, Julie was told by her employer that it didn't sit well with the owner that she had taken the job while pregnant. The situation escalated when, during her hospital stay after childbirth, her manager offered her a desk job instead of her field role, claiming that "being on the road was not conducive to having a family." Julie declined the offer. Upon returning from a brief maternity leave, she had to miss a few workdays when her child fell ill. Shortly afterward, she was placed on a performance improvement plan and subsequently terminated. This left Julie, a single mother with a young child facing health issues, in a vulnerable financial and emotional state. Solution We filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), later transitioning it to state court. At the time, the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave Act and the Earned Sick Time Law were not yet enacted. Both of these would have given her a clear path to relief. Instead, we filed under the pre-existing pregnancy and gender discrimination laws. After some discovery, the parties engaged in mediation and reached a settlement that provided Julie compensation for her job loss and the significant emotional distress she experienced. Postscript In the end, Julie not only received financial compensation but also found closure from a stressful chapter in her life. She secured a better job and has been able to support her family since. |
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Emily Smith-Lee is the owner and founder of slnlaw. She is a 1996 graduate of Boston College Law School. She was previously a partner at the Boston office of a large international firm, where she worked for thirteen years before starting the firm that became slnlaw in 2009. She has been recognized as Massachusetts Superlawyer each year since 2013, and in 2018 earned recognition as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Lawyers of the Year. She has written a book on employment law: Rules of the Road, What You Need to Know About Employment Laws in Massachusetts, and helped thousands of clients on both the employee and employer side with severance and non compete review and negotiation, wage and hour, discrimination and retaliation disputes, and advice about employment law generally.
Rebecca Rogers: Rebecca is a 2006 graduate of Boston College Law School, and has worked with slnlaw since 2013. She previously worked as an intellectual property litigation attorney for Fish & Richardson in Boston, Massachusetts, and clerked for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Rebecca has helped clients with wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination and retaliation claims, review and negotiation of severance and non compete agreements, and advice to both employees and employers about navigating complex employment situations.
Jenna Ordway: Jenna is a 2013 graduate of Quinnipiac Law School, and also earned an LLM in Taxation from Boston University in 2015. She has been affiliated with slnlaw since 2011, first as a law clerk and then as an attorney. Jenna has been recognized since 2019 as a "Rising Star" by Massachusetts Superlawyers. Jenna has helped clients with review and negotiation of severance and non compete agreements, wage and hour disputes, employment and discrimination claims, and advice to small business owners about employment law and other business matters.
Elijah Bresley: Eli is a 2014 graduate of Seton Hall Law school, and has worked with slnlaw since 2020. He previously worked for a boutique employment law firm outside of Boston, and then for the Labor and Employment department of a large Boston firm. He also spent a year clerking for the judges of the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut. Eli has helped clients on the employee and employer side with all varieties of employment law issues, including employment discrimination, retaliation, and wage and hour issues, litigation in MCAD and state and federal courts, and advising employers about employment policies and practices.
Sharleen Tinnin: Sharleen is a 2010 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, and has been with slnlaw since 2023. Prior to joining slnlaw, she worked with King, Tilden, McEttrick & Brink, P.C. on complex civil litigation matters. She previously worked for the United States Department of Justice, and received an "Excellence in Justice" award in 2017. Sharleen has helped clients with wage and hour, discrimination and retaliation disputes, review and negotiation of severance agreements, and litigation in MCAD and state and federal courts on employment related issues.
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Our experienced legal team can guide you through cases like Julie's, ensuring you understand and exercise your rights under employment laws. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
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