EEOC Sues American Addiction Centers for Pregnancy Discrimination

Rehabilitation Facility Fired Employee Because of Her Need for Additional Leave to Recover From Cesarean Section, Agency Charges

DALLAS - Dallas-based Greenhouse Outpatient Center and its parent company, American Addiction Centers, violated federal law when they fired a Behavioral Health Technician after she requested an extra 30 days of leave to recover from childbirth by cesarean section, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today. 

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, the employee was hired in October 2015 and notified human resources of her need for maternity leave in February 2016. She was granted a 30-day leave of absence for childbirth and delivered her baby by cesarean section. The employee's doctor subsequently told her she would need eight weeks to recover from the surgery before returning to work. When she notified human resources of her need for an additional four weeks of leave, she was told her position could not be held open past the initial 30 days that had been approved. Because she could not return at the end of the 30-day leave period, she was fired, even though Greenhouse Outpatient Center has granted leave 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, which prohibits employers from firing workers because they are pregnant. 

The EEOC filed suit, Civil Action No. 3:19-CV-2302-D, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.  The EEOC seeks compensatory and punitive damages and back pay, as well as injunctive relief. 

"If an employer accommodates portions of its workplace, it must offer those same accommodations to pregnant employees," said Meaghan Kuelbs, senior trial attorney in the EEOC's Dallas District Office. "In this case, the employer granted exceptions to its leave policy for non-pregnant employees but did not afford its pregnant employee the same opportunity. This woman was put in the untenable position of having to choose between fully recovering from her C-section and keeping her job."

 "Not providing a brand-new mom adequate recovery time ordered by her doctor is an employment practice that may come under the scrutiny by the EEOC if other employees are allowed exceptions or greater opportunity to recover from their injuries or illnesses," said Dallas District Office Regional Attorney Robert A. Canino. "The resulting loss of wages for an employee when their family is growing is a harm that may need to be remedied under the law."

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employ­ment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.  Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.