October 24, 2025
Attorney Accuses HR of Reckless Indifference, Gross Incompetence & Negligence – OUCH!
This case serves as a great reminder for employers. Know your state and local employment laws! It also illustrates the overlap of federal laws including the ADA, FMLA, PDA, PWFA with state and local laws. How’s that for some alphabet soup?! Here’s the case summary.
An employee reported to her employer that she was pregnant and requested a variety of pregnancy-related accommodations, including: (1) limiting her work hours to 40 hours per week; (2) providing her with frequent bathroom breaks and the opportunity to drink water as needed; (3) allowing her to sit for at least 10-15 minutes per hour and to work at her own pace; (4) placing her in a temperature-controlled environment for most of the day; and (5) not requiring her to lift more than 25 pounds. Her employer was able to accommodate these working restrictions by transferring her to a different work team. About six months later, the employer granted her a leave of absence that began before the birth of her child due to some medical complications. The employer provided her with approximately 15 weeks of leave, more than the 12 work weeks required under the FMLA. So, what’s the problem?
When the employee returned to work the employer required her to work overtime, “to try to hit some production numbers.” The employee called out, reporting that she could not work overtime due to post-partum depression and the need to care for her newly born son. She requested additional intermittent leave and to again be excused from mandatory overtime. The employer denied the request and issued corrective action for the call-out.
Fast forward, the employee escalates her request for accommodation. HR refers her to her supervisor, the supervisor does not respond, the employee goes back to HR who tells her there is nothing they can provide since she had exhausted her FMLA leave and suggests she might start planning for the transition of her job to someone else. The employee takes that as an inference that she quit or be fired. The employee sues for violations of the ADA (three counts); Pregnancy Discrimination Act (2 counts); Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (3 counts); FMLA (2 counts), PLUS claims under the state’s Family Leave Act; and more!
One of the claims is that although the employee had exhausted her FMLA leave, she was still entitled to up 12 additional weeks of leave to care for her newly born child. OOPS!
Wanna read what the plaintiff’s attorney said about how HR handled this? Brace yourself. It’s not pretty. “Defendant (and its human resources personnel) engage in complete reckless indifference, gross incompetence and negligence in applying state laws in locales where employees work…Defendant’s own management, human resources, and personnel do not even make any good-faith efforts to even learn about or apply applicable state-law protections for employees.” OUCH!
How does this story end? Stay tuned. The case was filed on October 24th. In the interim, let this not be you, your management team, or employer. Whether you employ employees in one location or dozens across the country, find resources to help you stay up-to-date with burgeoning state and local laws, as well as changing federal rules and regulations. (VirgilHR is just one example; ask for a free demo)
NOTE: Ms. Walters is an equity partner in and a former Advisory Board member of VirgilHR.
