Dive Brief:

• The EEOC sued a Daytona Beach-based insurance brokerage firm for rescinding a job offer when the woman revealed she was pregnant, according to a release.
• According to EEOC's suit, Brown & Brown, which owns and operates 180 offices nationwide, made a written employment offer to the applicant and also sent her an employment agreement for a "personal lines technical assistant" position at its Daytona Beach location. At some point, the applicant asked bout maternity benefits because she was pregnant, and not long after, received an email taking back the job offer because, according to Brown & Brown, it "had a very urgent need to have somebody in the position long term …We appreciate you telling us beforehand."
• Pregnancy discrimination violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC will seek back pay and compensatory and punitive damages for the applicant, and also injunctive relief to prevent and correct pregnancy discrimination, the posting of anti-discrimination notices, and training of Brown & Brown's managers and employees about federal equal employment opportunity laws.

Dive Insight:

"Pregnant women have the right to seek jobs and not be denied employment because they are pregnant," said Robert Weisberg, EEOC's Miami regional attorney, in a statement. "The federal law which prohibits pregnancy discrimination against pregnant employees also applies to pregnant applicants. EEOC continues, with this suit, to seek vigorous enforcement of the laws that protect all women from this kind of intentional and harmful discrimination."

Based on federal law, pregnant women have the right to seek employment free of discrimination and employers who make this decision can expect EEOC to take legal action, especially now that the EEOC is fairly active concerning discrimination in the workplace currently. 

The EEOC and Brown & Brown did try to resolve the issue via EEOC's pre-litigation conciliation process, but could not agree.