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Article Excerpt
Sarah Babb, a manager at Merisant--the company that makes the artificial sweetener Equal--got pregnant last year. But what should have been a joyous time soon turned bitter: In her ninth month of pregnancy, Babb lost the baby. Two months later, she lost her job.
Babb is suing the Chicago-based company over her firing, claiming Merisant discriminated against her solely because she was pregnant. Her complaint alleges that shortly after she announced her news, Merisant executives denied her an expected promotion, excluded her from important meetings, and suddenly started giving her negative performance reviews. In her claim, Babb says the company's actions violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. (Babb v. Merisant USA, Inc., No. 1:06CV01383 (N.D. Ill. filed Mar. 13, 2006).)
In 1978, Congress amended the Civil Rights Act to include a prohibition on "sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy." The Pregnancy Discrimination Act says employers may not single out pregnant women for special treatment and must allow them to work for as long as they are able to perform their jobs.
Retaliation against working women who get pregnant sounds like a relic of a bygone era. And yet Babb is hardly alone. A highly publicized lawsuit against Google, Inc., says the Internet search-engine company meted out similar treatment to Sarah Elwell, a national sales director who became pregnant. In her...
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