i just got hired at Ace hardware, The manager found out on the first day training that i was pregnant because of my morning sickness. i didnt know i had to tell them, i didnt think its there bussiness, The manager told it was okay to be pregnant and doesnt know about my benefits and said he was hoping i wouldnt quit if i dont getmy pregnancycoverd.
The next day (today) in the afternoon the owner came. As i was heading to my lunch the assistant manager told me that the owner told him he wanted to let me go because im pregnant, and said when im big i wont be able to lift things and do much, and said i should have told them in the begining before i got hired while i was having my interview, my bf sister said it's illegal and i should sue. But i dont know much about this.

It is illegal. You cannot be fired because you are pregnant. But before you can sue, you have to contact the EEOC and/or your state civil rights commission and file a complaint. They will investigate and, ultimately, issue you a right-to-sue letter. THEN you can sue.

Do i need proof like recording them on the phone, because i worry that they would deny they fired me because of my pregnancy once someone else ask them, or when i mention it to them next time. I only told one of the employee the same day that they fired me, when they fired me. I feel like he's my only witness but he really didnt hear the assistant manager say he's firing me beacuse of my pregnancy. i mostly worry they would deny it!

No, you do not need to provide proof. The EEOC will take care of that.

I'm not saying it's impossible they will deny it. They might. But if you're concerned that the EEOC will just take their word for it, don't. They're not going to just assume that the employer is telling the truth.

It's possible that they may not be able to determine one way or another. If it comes down to a he-said, she-said situation, the EEOC may decide that it's impossible to tell if illegal discrimination occurred or not. But you'll still get a right to sue letter.

This is my first time going through a legal situation and having to sue, i was just wondering whats the possible amount that i'd sue for? i'd really just want him to pay for what he's doing illegal!
It also unfair because they had one of their employee that just came off of pregnancy leave and her baby is 5 months old now. i mostly asked about their benefits to everybody and said i didnt care about the pay rate. The day the manager found out that im pregnant he told me ask her because she's been through it! when i spoke to her i asked if my pregnancy would be covered or did i have to be covered a for while before i got pregnant, she said no because she was a few months pregnant before she was hired to and got covered, so she was also hired the same way as me but she didnt get fired. which make me worried that they'll deny it because they didnt fired the other because of her pregnancy and say something against me.

It's WAY too soon to be thinking about amounts. When and if you get to that point, that's a question to talk to your lawyer about.

Have you ever heard "One bad apple spoils the whole bunch"? You might have been fired because your pregnant but the other employee may have used her pregnancy to get away with not doing her job properly and now the employer thinks your going to do the same thing. They shouldn't be able to use the fact that they kept on another employee in the same condition to say they weren't discriminating. Why you ask. Because if you were in training and you were doing your job to your employers satisfaction, if they pull that card out of there hand then they pretty much proved your case for you because they had no reason to fire you. Now if it's at will employment then you can be fired for absolutely no reason other than you wore the wrong color lipstick to work and that would be perfectly legal. However you said you were told by an asst. mgr that you were being fired because of limitations you might have in the future which by the way is nothing but bull. At ACE they have lift teams for a reason, there would be no reason whatsoever for you to be lifting something over 50lbs by yourself otherwise ACE would be paying out a lot of worker's comp for back injury. And with proper lifting being used a pregnant woman can actually lift well over 100lbs by herself it's just not recommened and no employer I know would ask a woman pregnant or not to lift more than 50lbs by herself especially when they hire men to do that.

It was just the first day that i worked I had morning sickness. The second day I was asking alot of thing regarding my pregnancy of what im allowed to do, like the manager let a clerk eat next to the register, and I knew it was'nt allowed because I saw it in the rule book and I ask a manager first before thinking of just copy someone at a low position (clerk). At that point he must have thought im asking for special privilages cuz im pregnant and they didnt want to go trough it again since the other woman said she requested not be by paint and pick up heavy things she actually shouted about it back to me after i was already fired and was on the phone asking 4 there names an d adress for the EEOC, she also complained i should have told them before i was hired so i wouldnt have wasted there time training me! and asked " if i want to risk my child lifting things and mixing paint?(she asked i repeatedly like i was deaf or slow of answering) i answered no, but then i told her i dont have a doctors note of restrictions yet, so there was still no other reason they should be upset. I was doing everything they asked and didn't complain or asked them to give me easier work, i actually asked for more work almost every hour!
My BF dad said they could fired me for any reason or no reason at all cuz i was only employed for Three days, he said it would have been illegal if ive worked with them more then 30 days fire me cuz of pregnancy! do you think thats true?

There is no legal difference between working 3 days and working 30. If you had worked there over a year and there were more than 50 employees, then it would make a difference if you were asking for leave. Otherwise, it doesn't matter.

If after only being there a few days you were asking a bunch of questions and it sounded like you were going ot be "high maintenance", then it would be legal for them to let you go, pregnant or not. Just as any other employee who acted similarly. I will say it is a red flag when any new employee starts askign about benefits and whether they need to do XYZ because of reason ABC. Stating that you don't care about the pay gives the impression you are only there for the benefits and not interested in being dedicated to the job.

No it's not true. If your ACE is like the one here it is AT-WILL employment. Meaning they can fire you at any time for absolutely no reason, however, you were given a reason, YOU'RE PREGNANT. They implied directly and indirectly that that was the reason for your being fired. Had they said we're letting you go because our uniform doesn't look right on you. That would have been lame but legal. You were told it was because you're pregnant. That is discrimination. You already know this because you had to have filled out an application for employment and unless the laws are different for where you are there should have been a disclaimer on it and in the employee break room stating that you can't be discriminated against due to race, sex, religion, pregnancy, or disability. And from what you have said thus far you have been discriminated against because of you current condition.

If you were asking what you could or could not do then you were in the right. There's an old saying in customer service "Always CYA". Meaning cover your a--, you were asking questions to find out what you were allowed to do. If you saw someone doing something they weren't supposed to be doing and you did it too you wouldn't be able to say well I saw so and so do it so I thought it would be ok. Your job made assumptions and "When you make an assupmtion you make an a-- out of yourself and -umption." To quote Samuel L. Jackson. If you were concerned about your benefits and not the pay you were receiving then you were also right in that as well. Why? Because when you were hired the interviewer probably went over how much you would get paid and when and what types of benefits they offer. They didn't go over what was covered by your benefits during the interview did they? If not then you were within your rights to ask, because how will you know if you don't ask. As far as what to do at this point you have legal options but what you should do is keep moving ahead and get another job. No you don't have to tell them your pregnant in the interview and unless you are obviously pregnant(showing) they can't ask you if you are unless the work you are applying for would be hazardous to you if your pregnant i.e. working with dangerous chemicals. Also ask questions about benefits during your interview but not specifically about what is covered. Those questions should be directed to the insurance company not your employer. This way you get the answers you need and you don't have to worry about your employer thinking you're going to be "high maintainance".

i dont get how i would be high maintenance! i always asked if they had more work and if they wanted me to help them i was always asking for more work if it was possible, not trying to take over.
yes they didn't tell me about my benefits during my interview when i asked they said they know anything about it, but they asked me how much i wanted to get paid i just said i didnt care about the pay cuz i just wanted something to do and help out doing something (instead of sitting my a-- home all day which my bf wants).
when the manager found out im pregnant he told me to ask about the benefits to the other woman that was previously on pregnancy leave. As i asked her the assitant manager was also there and i also asked him if i can bring something to snack, like the other employee does, he said its not allowed, so i couldnt snack on anything and said the other clerk knows foods not allowed next to the register but asst mgr didnt say anything to the other clerk knowing she wasnt following the rule. later the asst mgr came down and opened one of the store food items and ate in front of me next to the register and just conversated like his job was over with. a few minutes later the mgr brang my snack to me personally knowing i needed to eat or i would get quesy and maybe seen me looking at them thinking that it was not fair, he must have looked at me as the bad apple ruining the whole bunch cuz i was the only one trying to following the rules and observing them doing whatever they wanted. he maybe thought i made them look bad.
Its maybe because of my previous job that was very strict with every rule and not just to the low position workers but also the managers it was more equal or we were in trouble with the district mgr. every employee pretty much was a mgr distinguished by seniority. At Ace however seemed to be a dictators store when you dont kiss a-- enough (which i didnt even try thinking) you dont get to do what you want, i was trying to do my work (which we're all supposed to be doing) but to ignore them, cuz the people that smoked (mgrs and plus a-- kissers), took about 5 brakes a day those 2 days i worked plus the day of my interview. lucky for the people that smoked and conversated with the manager cuz they had extra breaks. I know for a fact that that that Ace store is runned wrongfully and unfair. im waiting to hear about the very old guys they wanted me to replace them with just cuz there weak and slow at working( the asst mgr mentioned to me while interviewing). he'll be fired soon as they find a replacment unfortunate for the mgrs i was one to be replaced discriminating my pregnancy.

Sophia, you can argue the point to us all you like but you're preaching to the choir; we already agree that illegal discrimination occurred. Nothing is going to change until you contact the EEOC and report it to them.

thanks for your help, i already reported and have a phone interview. i would not have known what to do with out your help. i know discrimation wont end but hope for it to lessen.

For the reader, in my case of being fired cuz i was pregnant, i did need any kind of proof of why he fired me.
i.e video/voice recording (EEOC said can only be legally used in court if other party knew he was recorded before hand, but still can be used for EEOC) or something written specifically stating the issue, or a witness (i had someone but he was scared he' get fired if the mgr. found out). So my case at the EEOC is closed. just wanted to write this to help other in the same situation.

Have you thought about a civil suit?

You may want to burn an hour of a lawyer's time and run it past them.

No, Actually i cant proceed any sue until im isseued a "right to sue letter" by the EEOC.

For the reader, in my case of being fired cuz i was pregnant, i did need any kind of proof of why he fired me.
i.e video/voice recording (EEOC said can only be legally used in court if other party knew he was recorded before hand, but still can be used for EEOC) or something written specifically stating the issue, or a witness (i had someone but he was scared he' get fired if the mgr. found out). So my case at the EEOC is closed. just wanted to write this to help other in the same situation.


Didn't know that they required you to investigate your own case? you might want to apply for a position at the EEOC then since they don't seem to do anything, sounds like a sweet gig.

Ok For starters, after reading the history of your post, I definetly agree that you were discriminated against because of your sex (female) in violation of Title VII. If a Charging Party like you walked through the door at the EEOC office I use to work at, your case would be assessed as an "A" based on EEOC's A, B, C classification of cases, meaning its more likely than a not a violation will be found.

So that brings me to WHY & WHEN your case was closed & by what Field office of the EEOC?

- WHEN because, as I stated in another post somewhere on LaborLaw, end of the fy is crazy time at the EEOC and lot of folks are trying to make their closure numbers. Whether that mean closing with a cause, no cause or settlement - the KEY is to get it closed by 9/30/07. Each EEOC office is given objective numbers based on how many Investigators are assigned & the outstanding cases/charges. i.e. An office with 6 Investigators will probably need to close around 610 cases for the yr. So a lot of things that were not worked on during the year, gets caught up in the MAD rush at the end of the yr. I am not sure if this applies to you, but if you were just informed in the last 3wks your case was being closed & had not heard anything before this for months, I wouldn't be surprised.

-WHY were you told the EEOC was going to dismiss your case? Each Investigator is supposed to do what is called an "Pre-Determination Interview" or PDI. It can be via telephone or in a letter explaining why the case is being dismissed and/or the Respondent/Employers alleged "non-discriminatory reason for the harm alleged."

For you, your former employer would have to say no EEOC, we let her go not because she was pregnant but because of ....... You should have been told the reason by your Investigator & given a chance to rebut or provide evidence to the contrary within 14 days. Depending on what you provided the Investigator would either go back to the Employer and do an On-site to interview witness or interview witnesses via telephone; Send a Request for Information or gone back to you & said I read your rebuttall evidence, but my recommendation to the Director stands.

Did your charge move like this?
Form 181

I say its my fault why they closed my case, i had a feeling it didnt matter cuz i didnt have any evidence( the EEOC kept pushing me to search for some evidence) so when i moved i didnt updated my new address with them. Plus its was like a year already that they havnt spoken to me. And i didnt have any computer then to ask what else to do from this site so i just left the case alone.
I had one thing to add to the case, that i have a number of the friend of the manager that agreed with him that i wasnt fired illegally, but hes a family friend, and my case was already closed a long time ago already, so i didnt bother to call EEOC back cuz i though they might have thrown my case in the trash cuz of how long its been. oh i even have the friends myspace page.
Most ppl told me that employer has the right to fire for any reason what so ever within the 90 day or whatever probation period. so him saying his reason for firing was legal, so i heard.

Sophia, while in most cases an employer (inside or outside the initial 90 day period) can fire you for pretty much any reason, there are exceptions. It is NEVER legal to fire you because you are pregnant unless your employer has less than 15 employees, and even then some states make it illegal anyway.

I hear you Sophia, but like CBG said AT WILL employment or PROBATIONARY periods DO NOT trump FEDERAL LAW. Thus, all AT WILL and probationary periods are subject to federal laws that protect against (or say its illegal to) discriminate against you because of your race, sex, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, age, disability, and even some other protected classes are covered by certain states.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class

It was my biggest frustration at the EEOC to see how many people are told we can fire you for any reason. That is simply NOT TRUE, you can NOT fire (or refuse to hire) someone because they are pregnant, because they white, hispanic, etc.

Take Care
Form 181