Federal Article Feeds Non-Pregnant Employee Covered by the PDA?
Riddle me this: When is a non-pregnant woman permitted to bring a claim under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 for pregnancy discrimination??? Just ask the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals who recently heard the case of Nurse Suzanne Kocak. (Kocak v. Community Health Partners of Ohio Inc., 6th Cir., No. 03-4650, March 11, 2005.)
In 1999, Ms. Kocak worked for Community Health Partners of Ohio, Inc. and resigned because of medical complications associated with her pregnancy. In 2000 and again in 2001, she applied to work on a part time basis with her old employer and was turned down both times. Apparently, Nurse Kocak was not unlike the infamous Nurse Ratched: Community Health asserted that Nurse Kocak was turned down for employment because she was “avidly disliked” by her peers, difficult to work with, and had been involved in frequent conflicts at work. Ms. Kocak, while admitting to these performance issues, maintained her denial of employment was motivated by considerations in violation of the PDA. The District Court held that Ms. Kocak was not covered by the PDA as she was not pregnant at the time of her reapplication, and no medical condition related to pregnancy manifested itself during this time.
This is when you should scratch your head and wonder, “Where’s the lawsuit here?” Enlightening you with two facts I omitted should solve this confusion: 1.) Ms. Kocak testified that a personnel manager at Community Health asked Ms. Kocak during her 2001 reapplication process if she was pregnant or planning on having any more children; and 2.) Ms. Kocak also testified that her former supervisor said she would not agree to rehire Ms. Kocak because of the complications of her 1999 pregnancy.