Heartfelt Home Healthcare Services, Inc., a Pennsylvania home healthcare provider, will pay $20,000 to a former employee and take significant steps to prevent future discriminatory treatment of its employees to settle a pregnancy and disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced. According to EEOC’s lawsuit, the company’s president and vice president repeatedly told a pregnant worker with hypertension that she was a “liability to the company” due to her condition. After the employee received medical care due to early pregnancy contractions but was released to work without restrictions, the company fired her due to her pregnancy and hypertension, the EEOC charged. Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination in employment, including on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth and pregnancy-related medical conditions, and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which prohibits discrimination based on disability, including pregnancy-related disability.
