The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently filed suit against New Jersey-based software company NICE Systems, Inc. (NICE) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The EEOC accused NICE of violating the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when, after learning that one of its employees had become pregnant, stopped assigning that employee sales leads and denied her commission payments.
The employee states that, after returning from pregnancy leave, NICE removed her from her profitable sales territory and reassigned her to a territory with few, if any, existing clients. Furthermore, the employee alleges that NICE failed to address her complaints of discrimination and ultimately forced her to resign. Robert E. Weisberg, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Miami District Office stated:
Although maternity leave is a comparatively small amount of time in a woman’s overall career span, many companies still take a short-sighted approach, failing to value the contributions women bring to the workplace.
You can read the full press release here. We’ll be watching this case. Please contact us if you believe that you’ve been a victim of pregnancy discrimination at your workplace.
