Two former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees have filed a lawsuit accusing the retailer of treating thousands of pregnant workers as “second-class citizens” by rejecting their requests to limit heavy lifting, climbing on ladders and other potentially dangerous tasks. The proposed class action lawsuit was filed in federal court in Illinois on Friday by Talisa …
Talisa Borders and Otisha Woolbright say that, until 2014, Walmart had a company-wide policy that denied pregnant workers the same accommodations as workers with other disabilities, treating expectant mothers as “second-class citizens.” That policy, they said, was in violation of federal law, which requires employers to treat pregnancy as a temporary disability and provide work accommodations …
Eryon Luke, a certified nursing assistant from Louisiana, was fired from her job in 2012 after becoming pregnant with twins. Today, her legal case may determine how other pregnant and breastfeeding women are treated in the workplace. When she became pregnant, Eryon wanted to continue working and, like most people, needed her job.
In one instance, the federal lawsuit alleges, the pregnant woman was placed in solitary confinement for having a library book that had pictures and envelopes inside it. In another instance, a pregnant inmate had three pairs of shoes instead of two. In none of the instances in which five pregnant women were held for up to 22 days in solitary confinement at the Allegheny County Jail were any of …