MILWAUKEE (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a lawsuit Aug. 22 against Silverado Menomonee Falls LLC, doing business as Silverado Oak Village, for allegations of firing an employee rather than providing accommodations for her pregnancy-related medical conditions.
Also named in the suit is Silverado's home office, called Silverado Senior Living Inc.
"What our investigation indicated is that Silverado fired its employee, Shaquena Burton, once it learned of her pregnancy and her need to perform light-duty work, rather than give her the light-duty tasks it made available to its employees injured on the job,” said Julianne Bowman, the EEOC's Chicago District director.
Alleged conduct of this nature violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). The EEOC seeks reinstatement, back pay, and compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief to prevent future discrimination by the defendants.
"The Supreme Court made clear in Young v. UPS that if an employer provides light duty or other accommodations to a large proportion of non-pregnant workers while denying those opportunities to a large percentage of pregnant workers, the employer may be violating our nation's civil rights law prohibiting pregnancy discrimination,” said Gregory Gochanour, regional attorney of the EEOC's Chicago District Office. “In this case, Silverado deprived Ms. Burton of an accommodation that it consistently offered to its non-pregnant workers."