Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Agency resolves Title VII pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment suits, files new suit under PWFA, (Aug 7, 2026)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, including lifting restrictions and the need to pump breast milk at work.”

The EEOC separately announced its settlements of a sexual harassment lawsuit against an Arizona employer for $250,000, and an unrelated pregnancy discrimination suit against a Texas employer for an undisclosed amount. The federal antidiscrimination agency also filed a class lawsuit against an Illinois employer for alleged pregnancy discrimination, including its failure to properly accommodate nursing mothers’ need to pump breast milk.

Female employees sexual harassed by residents at senior living facility. Pursuant to a consent decree, Christian Care Management, Inc., will pay $250,000 and provide other relief to resolve allegations that it violated Title VII when the senior living facility management company that operates six Fellowship Square locations throughout Arizona permitted male residents at its Mesa, Arizona, location to repeatedly subject female employees to sexual harassment. The residents purportedly requested sexual favors, directed inappropriate sexual language toward female employees, sat in their underwear while housekeeping staff cleaned their rooms, and grabbed an employee’s breast and private parts. The female employees reported the harassment to Mesa managers, but management failed to follow its own sexual harassment policies by failing to notify HR and not taking adequate steps to curb the continuing escalation of harassment, according to the EEOC.

Further, despite repeated reports detailing the inappropriate sexual nature of one resident’s interactions with female staff, management tasked a female employee with driving the resident to an appointment, placing her alone in a vehicle with the resident. As she drove, she was assaulted, the EEOC said. The resident allegedly grabbed her breast and private parts while exposing himself. Christian Care denied her request to take the day off after the assault. The company waited four days after the assault to initiate a psychological evaluation of the resident and another 13 days before beginning the process to evict him, according to the EEOC.

Christian Care also must review and revise its antidiscrimination policies to prevent unlawful sexual harassment, including sexual harassment by residents, and include an anti-sexual harassment policy in its resident handbook.

The EEOC filed its lawsuit suit in the District of Arizona; the case is No. 2:24-cv-02620-GMS.

Qualified hair braider rejected due to pregnancy. Dallas Barber and Stylist College, Inc., has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount in monetary damages and provide other relief to settle allegations that the operator of multiple barber and hair styling locations and instructional campuses in the Dallas metropolitan area violated Title VII when it rejected an applicant because of her pregnancy. After the applicant satisfied the company’s skills test for the hair-braider position she sought, its owner learned that she was pregnant and rejected her, according to the EEOC. The owner allegedly told the applicant that the company already had one pregnant employee, did not want another, and did not want to deal with her “condition,” referring to her pregnancy.

The EEOC brought its lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas; the case is No. 3:24-cv-02296-S.

Class lawsuit alleges discrimination against pregnant workers. A new EEOC lawsuit alleges that Automotive lighting manufacturer North American Lighting, Inc., violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) by discriminating against a class of pregnant employees since July 2023. The company, which manufactures headlights and taillights and operates facilities in Salem, Flora, Mattoon, and Paris, Illinois, purportedly refused to accommodate the pregnancy-related lifting restrictions of employees throughout its Illinois facilities. One employee was allegedly sent home and fired the next day after company officials told her that her doctor’s note was “not good enough” and that “we don’t want to be responsible if you miscarry.” Another pregnant employee was placed on unpaid leave rather than being accommodated and was then fired when her leave expired, the EEOC said.

Nursing mothers. Further, the company allegedly failed to accommodate nursing mothers who needed breaks and a private space to pump breast milk. Women were required to pump in their cars or in rooms without locks, and they were denied adequate time to pump. One employee’s request to continue taking a single pumping break during her lunch, beyond one year after childbirth, was refused. As a result, some women were reportedly forced to quit.

Lifting restrictions. The EEOC alleges that North American Lighting accommodated employees with lifting restrictions arising from on-the-job injuries by assigning them to light duty but refused to do the same for its pregnant employees. One employee was told she was denied a light-duty assignment because her restriction did not arise from an on-the-job injury.

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, including lifting restrictions and the need to pump breast milk at work,” said Acting EEOC General Counsel Catherine Eschbach. “Employers cannot force pregnant workers onto leave, or push nursing mothers out of their jobs, when a reasonable accommodation would allow them to keep working.”

The EEOC filed its lawsuit in the Southern District of Illinois; the case is No. 3:26-cv-01032.

Companies: Christian Care Management, Inc.; Dallas Barber and Stylist College, Inc.; North American Lighting, Inc.

News: AgencyNews Discharge Discrimination PregnancyDiscrimination SexDiscrimination SexualHarassment