She only asked to skip one task — climbing 40 feet while carrying a sledgehammer
A lawsuit filed against Land O'Lakes alleges the company fired a pregnant employee after reversing her approved FMLA leave.
Jessica Clemmer, a Lead Operator at the company's Portland, Oregon facility, says she was terminated in June 2025 after disclosing her pregnancy and asking for a workplace accommodation. The case, filed on March 27 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon (Clemmer v. Land O'Lakes, Inc., Case No. 3:26-cv-00602), raises 17 claims ranging from sex and pregnancy discrimination to FMLA interference and wrongful discharge. No determination has been made on any of the claims.
Clemmer joined the company in November 2021 and was promoted to Lead Operator about seven months later. After an ultrasound in March 2025 confirmed her pregnancy, her medical provider recommended she be excused from one task: climbing roughly 40 feet up to a catwalk while carrying a sledgehammer to free stuck feed from the tops of silos. The filing notes the company had previously excused her from the same task and allowed her light duty when she sustained a back injury in 2023.
When Clemmer brought the request to the plant manager, identified as J.P., the response was not what she expected. According to the filing, J.P. told her that if she could not perform any part of her job, she would need to go on leave for the duration of her pregnancy. "Jessica, we've been through this before. We do not...
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