Woman Wins $500K Suit Against Chipotle After She Was Fired For Being Pregnant

Is it really so difficult for big companies to make accommodations for pregnant women? I'm asking honestly because this woman had to sue Chipotle for discrimination after her manager fired her over her pregnancy.

Seriously, my blood just boils every time I hear about this nonsense. Roughly half of the population can get pregnant at some point, so let's all get on board with accommodations as a society. Anything less is absurd.

OK, no more rants; back to the story.

According to the Washington Business Journal, Doris Garcia Hernandez became pregnant in 2011 while working at a Washington, DC Chipotle. Once Doris told her manager, referred to as David in her lawsuit, he reportedly started imposing restrictions on her and not on any other employees. (That's textbook discrimination, by the way.)

The lawsuit alleged,

Upon learning of her pregnancy, David told Ms. Garcia that she had to announce to every employee in the store when she was going to the bathroom and that David would have to approve her bathroom breaks so that he could cover her work position for her. David did not impose these requirements on non-pregnant employees.

David reportedly fired Doris in the main area of the Chipotle a day after she left early for a pre-natal appointment, even though she repeatedly requested to be given permission.

Jonathan Smith, the executive director of the Washington Lawyers' Committee, which helped Doris file the suit, said,

We are grateful to the jury for vindicating the rights of our client to be free from pregnancy discrimination and to send a message to other employers that this practice is intolerable.

Thank you, Mr. Smith, for helping Doris fight back against the ridiculousness that is pregnancy discrimination. Pregnant women are literally carrying the future. The absolute least we could all do is not fire them.

Citations: Chipotle will have to pay up after firing pregnant D.C. employee (Washington Business Journal)