Dive Brief:

• Employment discrimination based on an employee's decision to have an abortion can be sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal district court said in refusing to dismiss an employee's lawsuit  (DeJesus v. Florida Central Credit Union, No. 8:17-cv-2502 (M.D. Fla, Oct. 11, 2018).
• A teller for a Florida-based credit union discovered after she was hired that she was pregnant and asked her supervisor for time off for a medical procedure to terminate the pregnancy. The supervisor approved the request and shortly thereafter, the employee received a positive performance review. She was then fired by the branch manager, however, who told her that the medical procedure was not an appropriate excuse for her absence.
• The employee sued and the trial court denied the credit union's request to dismiss the case. The court said the allegations were sufficient to infer that the credit union terminated her because of her choice to have an abortion, which, as other courts have ruled, may be a basis for sex discrimination.

Dive Insight:

Title VII, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), protects women from being fired for having an abortion or contemplating having an abortion, according to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance. Title VII would similarly prohibit adverse employment actions against an employee based on her decision not to have an abortion, EEOC said. "For example, it would be unlawful for a manager to pressure an employee to have an abortion, or not to have an abortion, in order to retain her job, get better assignments, or stay on a path for advancement."

The EEOC also noted two appellate court rulings that informed the guidance. In Doe v. C.A.R.S. Protection Plus, Inc., 527 F.3d 358, 364 (3d Cir. 2008), cert. denied, 129 S. Ct. 576 (2008), the court held that the PDA prohibited an employer from discriminating against a female employee because she has exercised her right to have an abortion. And in Turic v. Holland Hospitality, Inc., 85 F.3d 1211, 1214 (6th Cir. 1996), another appeals court found that the termination of a pregnant employee because she contemplated having abortion violated the PDA. 

Training for managers and front-line supervisors can be key in making sure that employers don't run afoul of legal requirements. In a recent survey, EverFi found that addressing harassment and discrimination is a top priority for businesses. But efforts can't end with a one-time training; efforts must be ongoing and ingrained in company culture, experts say, and training must resonate with employees.