This woman left with no source of income when being told her time as a legal assistant at the Bendinelli Law Firm had come to an end in January 2017.
Reportedly, Jennifer Rodriguez told her employers that she was 8-month pregnant and surprisingly, she was fired the next day. Recalling the moment, Rodriguez told that she was left with no source of income when she was told her time as a legal assistant at her firmm had come to an end in January 2017, just after ten days into the job. She expressed: “Huge sadness. I wasn’t sure what the next step was. Just devastated really,” . Initially, she felt dismayed, then confused and ultimately became anger when she figured out the reason behind her sudden dismissal—her pregnancy.
Due to the suspicious timing of it all, Rodriguez decided to confront her bosses about it and got the answer that left her floored. The woman,who was in the third trimester of her pregnancy with her son, Jay claimed: “I asked for an explanation and he told me because I was dishonest with not revealing I was pregnant within my first interview or my second interview,”.
She added: “I believe it was obvious I was eight months pregnant and anyone could see it, but I still wanted to be clear about it and put it on the table,”. But that wasn’t the end, the mother claimed that the firm even asked her if she would “keep the baby” should any complications arise, or whether she was just acting as a surrogate. Instead of going out quietly, the woman decided to fight for her right. She then contacted the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Denver law firm and won.
Her firm which maintained that she was fired for her performance not because of her pregnant status, agreed to pay her $30,000 to settle the dis*crimination lawsuit. The head of the firm, Marco Bendinelli said: “Based on the consequences I faced, yes. But only based on the consequences. The characterization that we are pregnancy unfavorable is a blatant mischaracterization.”
When asked for an explanation for her sudden dismissal, Marco said, “Job performance … and being less than forthright about her circumstance. I can’t go into details.”. Reportedly, the law firm admitted that they fired the woman because she failed to disclose her pregnancy during the initial interview. And the EEOC said that it was unlawful and clear dis*crimination from the firm’s end.
As for the claims about keeping the baby, Marco denied them. “She said she was 7 to 8 months pregnant then she said someone here said are you going to keep it? Now think about that, you can’t terminate a pregnancy in the third trimester. It was preposterous,”. Meanwhile, Rodriguez is satisfied with winning the settlement because for her it means, she got justice. She hopes that people who feel dis*criminated against in the workplace will take inspiration from her and courageously come forward. “I really hope from this situation on that no one gets to experience what I experienced because that was really devastating for me,”, she said.
Source: kdvr.com, Fox31, lessonslearnedinlife
