Can a pregnant employee be fired for a first-time incident?
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Can a pregnant employee be fired for a first-time incident?
I was working as a waitress and am 8.5 months pregnant. I received a bad tip from a customer during the lunch shift. I was upset and posted a picture of the credit card receipt on to my Facebook account. The picture did include the customers name and last 4 numbers his credit card. An unknown person saw the photo and faxed it to my employer that night complaining that it was unprofessional. I was called into work the next day to talk with the managers and was fired. I believe I should have been suspended rather than fired; it was my first incident and I had never been in trouble with the company before.
Asked on July 26, 2011 Florida
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
The fact is that as an "at will" employee you can be fired for this or any reason (even a bad one); with or without notice. Unless you there is company policy to the contrary or an employment or union contract that provides otherwise, your former employer has broken no laws.
Additionally, no form of employment discrimination must have played a role in your termination; this includes discharge due to pregnancy. In fact there are several laws that apply to pregnant employees. However, you would have had to have been fired simply for being pregnant. This is not the situation in your case. You were fired for behavior which your employer found objectionable. So just because you were pregnant doesn't mean that you can't still be fired for other reasons.
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