One worker was terminated the same day she requested maternity leave
The federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws has sued a major Pacific Northwest retailer, alleging it punished two pregnant employees for requesting basic accommodations - and then fired them both.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the complaint against Fred Meyer Stores, a Kroger subsidiary, on September 30, 2026, in the Western District of Washington. The case is brought under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect on June 27, 2023, and requires employers with 15 or more workers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions.
The allegations center on a single Fred Meyer store in Vancouver, Washington, and two women who worked there during overlapping periods in 2023.
The first worker started as a home clerk and cashier at the store in March 2022, according to the filing. She was working around 40 hours a week when she became pregnant in approximately April 2023 and began experiencing severe pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting.
She called out sick four days that month. In May, she told management she was pregnant.
What followed, the EEOC alleges, was a months-long pattern of escalating discipline. On June 8, 2023, the complaint says, she received a written warning for missing four shifts in May - with no prior verbal warning. She reminded management her absences were pregnancy-related. The store then cut her weekly hours from 40...
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