The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a female employee of Wabash in Cadiz claiming discrimination while she was pregnant.
According to the lawsuit, which represents one side of the issue, Hayley Knight said the company denied her accommodation to transfer to a role that did not require her to lie on her stomach.
The suit said Knight was a front plate assembler in October of last year — a job which required her to bend over the tops of trailers. Knight, who was then seven months pregnant, told Wabash’s human resources representatives that her pregnant stomach made bending over trailers painful.
Because of this discomfort and her concerns that constant pressure on her stomach would jeopardize her otherwise healthy pregnancy, Knight asked to be moved from the front-plate position to another assembly-line position for the rest of her pregnancy, or to have her limitation accommodated in some other way.
The lawsuit claims instead, the company forced her to take unpaid leave and ultimately gave her no choice but to return to her position without modification. She said that decision led her to fear for the health of her pregnancy and she was forced to resign eight months in.
The lawsuit adds the company also unlawfully required medical documentation and failed to accommodate even though it could have provided changes similar to those the company provides for non-pregnant workers with similar limitations.
The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Paducah this week, said the actions violated the recently enacted Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Knight is seeking back pay with prejudgment interest, compensation for past and future pecuniary losses resulting from unlawful employment practices, emotional distress, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life.
