Marketing executive alleges he faced retaliation for defending pregnant workers

Dive Brief:

• A marketing executive at Terranea, an oceanfront resort in Southern California, claims he faced retaliation for standing up for his pregnant co-workers in a complaint filed June 4. 
• In February 2024, when a worker was reminding the marketing team that she was to go on maternity leave soon, the hotel president got “visibly angry” and started asking each woman at the meeting if she was pregnant, the lawsuit alleged. Thereafter, the president allegedly increased his scrutiny of the women on the marketing team; the executive said he refused to do things like write his high-performing team for infractions.
• After the executive corroborated the president’s mistreatment of women workers to HR, he was fired. He then sued, alleging violations of California labor code and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Dive Insight:

Even prior to the meeting where he asked all the women if they were pregnant, Terranea’s president had allegedly made anti-pregnancy comments to women working at the hotel. 

For example, according to the claim filed in the Superior Court of California, one conversation about a promotion turned to the president’s disbelief that the worker could handle more responsibilities while caring for a child. 

In another instance, he allegedly asked a woman interviewing for a job about whether she’d be able to show up to work on schedule as a mother of two.

And after the meeting described in the lawsuit, the president allegedly berated and needled the women on the marketing team. He also required the women to work extended hours — thereby making it more difficult to drop off and pick up kids from school. 

The marketing executive said his termination violated a part of California’s labor code that protects workers’ rights to speak up against legal violations and protects them from retaliation. 

He also alleged discrimination, in violation of FEHA, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on their perceived association with members of a protected class.

Earlier this year in Texas, an employer came under fire for terminating a pregnant employee — a “sudden and unprecedented campaign” to underscore the HR professional’s alleged poor performance started as soon as her managers discovered she was pregnant.

Retaliation claims from individuals speaking up against alleged discrimination also are not unprecedented. Last summer, a Pennsylvania employer paid $50,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case where an HR professional alleged retaliation for investigating sexual harassment complaints.