Allegheny Valley Schools allegedly subjects pregnant house manager to discrimination and harassment.

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Employee Files Lawsuit against Allegheny Valley Schools for Pregnancy Discrimination and Hostile Work Environment

When Sara accepted the position of House Manager with Allegheny Valley Schools, she’d already been working with the company for over four years with an excellent work history. Although the new position had a $20,000 decrease in pay, Sara accepted since the job included company housing and utilities. A few months later, during a work meeting, Sara’s supervisor relayed some office gossip about Sara being pregnant. Sara neither confirmed or denied the information, but simply smiled and continued with her day.

After that conversation, an avalanche of emails from management poured into Sara’s inbox. Sara claims that management told her to “put in more time” even though she already worked 12-hour days without overtime pay. To make matters worse, Allegheny Valley Schools also informed Sara that her job was “no longer a live-in position” and her pregnancy meant that there would be “too many people in the house.” Shocked by this sudden change, Sara moved. Despite no longer living in company housing, Sara asserts that her salary remained the same. Allegheny Valley Schools pulled the rug from underneath Sara due to her pregnancy. This is clearly employment discrimination.

A few weeks later, when Sara was in a car accident, her doctor required her to take leave for recovery. According to Sara, two of Sara’s supervisors called her repeatedly, demanding Sara’s return to work. Sara shortened her leave, but she scheduled an appointment with her doctor to check on the health of her growing baby. During the appointment, Sara’s supervisors called her non-stop. In response to the harassment, Sara’s blood pressure rose, and hives broke out all over her body. Her doctor ordered Sara to take FMLA leave immediately due to unsafe stress levels and the possible effect on her pregnancy. Things only worsened when Sara’s supervisor called multiple hospitals, searching for her, and continually called Sara’s personal phone. Due to the ongoing harassment causing pregnancy complications, Sara took short term disability leave.

Sara suffered from irrational and excessive harassment, which only started when Allegheny Valley Schools found out that she was pregnant. This treatment not only affected her income, but also ruined her emotional stability. Allegheny Valley Schools denies all these claims. However, Pregnancy discrimination is against the law and KM&A champions the employee rights of people, who like Sara, suffer harassment due to pregnancy.

Full text of this complaint, as filed with the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is available at docket no: 2:17-cv-00890-CRE

Kraemer, Manes & Associates LLC is an employment law firm with principal offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, serving all counties in Pennsylvania, focusing on employment law, business law, litigation, and civil issues. KM&A clients include employees, small businesses, parties in litigation, and people with a variety of legal issues.

For more information about this case, contact Attorney Kayla Drum at 412-626-5594 or at kd@lawkm.com.

NOTICE: All information contained in this statement comes from the Complaint which has been filed as a public record with the court. As dedicated civil rights attorneys, we strongly believe in the public value of telling our clients’ stories: violators can be held accountable, and other silent victims can feel empowered to stand up for their legal rights. Although we make every attempt to verify our clients’ claims, note that the defendant is expected to oppose our client’s position, and the court has not ruled one way or the other as of the date of this statement.