Feds Claim That A Walgreens Manager Refused To Allow A Pregnant Employee Leave. Then She Miscarried

Feds Claim That A Walgreens Manager Refused To Allow A Pregnant Employee Leave. Then She Miscarried: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a federal complaint against Walgreens after a store manager allegedly refused to let a pregnant worker leave to visit a doctor when she started bleeding.

According to a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on September 28th, the employee was informed she had “already sought for too many adjustments” before being fired from her employment in Louisiana. The miscarriage occurred later that day, the agency said.

According to a press release, the EEOC has filed a discrimination claim against Walgreens on behalf of the employee, who is pregnant and suffers from diabetes and hypoglycemia. A senior trial attorney for the EEOC’s New Orleans field office, Andrew Kingsley, said in a statement, “No one should have to choose between losing a pregnancy and losing a job.”

When McClatchy News asked Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman for comment on September 29, he politely declined. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed an action against the pharmacy chain after claiming it had attempted to settle the matter out of court.

The Employee Is Hired By WALGREENS

A pregnant employee identified only as “Jane Doe” in the lawsuit was employed by Walgreens on September 17, 2020, in Alexandria, Louisiana, to serve as a customer sales associate.

According to the EEOC, the worker notified her management that she was visiting a doctor and needed to eat on occasion during her shift because of her health concerns. After then, on October 27, 2020, the employee informed her supervisor that she was expecting a child.

The lawsuit alleges that several days later, the employee texted her manager to say she was sick and unable to return to work because she was feeling dizzy. Another supervisor at Walgreens, she said in the text, had denied her a 15-minute food break.

The manager texted back, “[W]hen you go to [the] doctor in [the] morning we need something from [the] doctor with your restrictions and blood sugar issues… we need you at work so we can get ready for inventory or this will be job abandonment if no… excuse…,” as stated in the employee’s formal complaint.

According to the EEOC, the following day the employee returned to work and presented her boss, who was also aware that she was pregnant, with a doctor’s note. On December 2, 2020, over a month later, the EEOC claims, the pregnant worker noticed blood in the restroom while using the restroom.

She informed both her doctor and an officemate. According to the complaint, the sales associate informed the “shift lead” employee that she “was unwell” and “needed to leave.” But her coworker told her she had to wait until the manager came before leaving the office.

The pregnant employee allegedly notified store management she had to leave immediately upon arrival, but the manager refused to let her go. The manager said that she couldn’t resign until she’d found someone to take over her role.

For example, “it is not unusual for the store manager and the shift lead to cover for a customer sales associate when a substitute is unavailable,” as stated in the EEOC’s complaint. According to the complaint, the management had not found a replacement and had informed the employee that she “was not a good match for Walgreens” because of her pregnancy. The boss continued, saying the employee had asked for “too many allowances” in the past.

According to the EEOC, the sales associate’s doctor had contacted her to schedule an appointment. The announcement claims, “The customer sales associate had no choice but to quit, following her doctors advise,” and the woman ultimately had a miscarriage. The EEOC claims that the employee was denied reasonable accommodations by Walgreens because of her pregnancy, diabetes, and hypoglycemia.

According to the complaint, the EEOC is demanding that Walgreens “make whole” the lady by paying her back salary, as well as additional remedies, such as restoring her to her former position and paying her from the start of her employment. The agency also claims it wants to make sure Walgreens doesn’t discriminate in the future against its employees.

“Employers must do all that they can to ensure pregnant women are offered fair employment opportunities,” said Uma Kandan, director of the EEOC’s New Orleans field office. Located roughly 190 miles northwest of New Orleans, Alexandria is a great place to visit.