Woman Sues Gap For Miscarriage

[BillyGoatGruff]

Let us try to keep in mind that we've only heard from one side. We don't know what actually happened and we won't know until we hear from the other side. The fact of the matter is that some jobs are NOT appropriate for pregnant women and women carrying twins have even more complications than those carrying single babies.

The Gap is notorious for doing crap like firing employees who have gained weight and refusing to hire people they consider physically unattractive or too "old", so I would imagine trying to force a pregnant woman to quit wouldn't be a stretch for them

 

[mssheila]

The Gap is notorious for doing crap like firing employees who have gained weight and refusing to hire people they consider physically unattractive or too "old", so I would imagine trying to force a pregnant woman to quit wouldn't be a stretch for them

Well, I certainly haven't heard that about The Gap. I have a girlfriend who works for them, and she loves her job. I suppose she might be considered under less pressure because she took the job just to get out of the house.. mothers need to do that sometimes I called her after your post and inquired with her about it, and she says that she's never heard that about them. Shrug.

 

[mssheila]

WEll, that's esy to say if you're not living hand to mouth, like most working poor--which includes a sizable chunk of the population.

I will only say this about the above post. I disagree wholeheartedly. When I was pregnant with my first child, I went into premature labor frequently toward the end of my pregnancy. My doctor eventually put me on light bed rest- which meant I had to quit my job. My doctor told me to stay off my feet, and I was a waitress. I was not yet married, and that was my only income. I did not have health insurance. I was living hand to mouth. I was in that situation, and I took the health of my child before everything else. I think most mothers would.

I smell a rat with this story. As many people have said, she didn't HAVE to keep the job, if her pregnancy was at risk. She could have asked for help from coworkers, who might have been more sympathetic to her than management. She could have done a lot of things other than to lift those boxes. I say, with the given information, that she was the one who caused the premature labor... I don't know how The Gap could be held liable.

ETA: Yes, it IS easy for me to say, because I did it.

 

[Details]

Some people, and some of them happen to be managers, are not friendly at all towards the idea of pregnant employees. I've been on a forum with other pregnant women during my pregnancy, and there have been some good stories in just our small group - the worst is an employer who cut a salary employee's paycheck by $450 because she had some doctors appointments, and tried to demote her to an hourly employee, and was making some hostile comments about the laws that required him to keep her job for her during maternity leave. She wasn't looking for much at all in the line of accomodations, but he thought it was all a bunch of BS that he couldn't just get rid of her, that his business had to deal with keeping her.

Fortunately, she knew enough about her rights not to just accept it... but it's a huge issue, and you are in a very insecure position when pregnant, so far as jobs are concerned. You need medical insurance - a birth can easily run 10 grand without complications - not to mention paying for doctors visits, lab tests, ultrasounds, etc. before the birth. So, you need to keep your job. A new job (even if you can get one, pushing a pregnant belly in front of you into the interview room) is not required to help you out the same way as a job you held before becoming pregnant, and the medical insurance may not cover the expenses.

It may have come down to - lift these boxes, and keep your job, or don't lift them, and become homeless without medical insurance, with a complicated pregnancy. Sure, you can go to a lawyer and sue... and while that is going on, you are homeless without medical insurance - not an acceptable solution. And lifting the boxes might not do anything bad - it's easy to do more than you are supposed to - I overdid it during my pregnancy - knew I was doing a bit much (moving day), but until my body protested after the fact, I didn't think I was doing anything that might be dangerous. So many rules to being pregnant that you can't follow all of them, so many that you can bend, so many pregnant women who break them and have no problems, and you think you can do it too.

And maybe she could have gotten enough assistance to keep everything afloat - but it doen't take much of a problem to eliminate all your savings and a bit more, and make you homeless.

 

[montana_16]

One thing I noticed in the story is that it said she went into premature labor WHILE lifting heavy boxes. If she went into labor exactly at that time it would add to her case.

Maybe she shouldn't have stayed with the job, but many people are desperate for work and insurance coverage these days. And employers know it's their heydey now and they can and do get away with almost whatever they want.

 

[Details]

There deffinitly more to this story. I can not believe that any boss would just blatenly disregard the fact a women is pregnant with twins and insist she do heavey manual labor.
I just can't believe that.

mjak

I can easily believe it. Some bosses are very hostile to pregnancy discrimination laws - they think they should be able to expect workers to be disposable identical units with no special requirements, and think the old way where a pregnant woman was automatically resigning her job, was right.

 

[Old Broad]

I hope there will be updates to this story so we can get a better feel for what the facts are. I will admit that my first reaction is to feel sympathy for the woman I believe due to the fact that I have seen first hand pregnant women put into situations with their work because they are trying to keep everything together for a steady paycheck and insurance.
In one situation the woman kept working until she gave birth, doing heavy lifting and on her feet most of the time. She wanted to spend as much time after she gave birth at home with her baby and that was the only way she could do it. Another woman was in a dangerous position, working with violent clients and I was scared to death one would hurt her, it would just take 1 punch in the stomach, one time of knocking her down on the ground. I begged our supervisor to not put her in that situation!! Our supervisor was a woman with grandchildren and you'd think there would have been some sympathy there but there was not. It was easier for her to schedule her the way she was doing.
Another young woman did have a miscarriage directly due to what happened to her at work, getting kicked in the stomach. Should she have been there to have that happen? No of course not, but that didn't change the fact that she was.

Old Broad

 

[Bobbisangel]

First of all I wonder if she actually gave the company a note from her doctor to verify that he wanted her hours cut and that she wasn't to lift over 5 lbs?
It's important that they received a note...not just word of mouth. Usually if a company is given a doctor's order they have to abide by it.

The article said that one baby died and the other has serious health problems.
I'm trying to connect the serious health problems to the lifting. It is possible that the babies were not healthy babies and it just happened to be when she was lifting something heavy that her labor started.

I'm sure that each side will have their own expert doctors in court. I hope this gal documented everything that happened at work...like in a journal so that her attorney can use it in court. It also help you remember the sequence of the happenings.

Most places are willing to accomodate a pregnant woman and the employees are happy to help her do the things that she shouldn't be doing. Each store is different though and so are the people who work there. If your supervisor has had children she should be more understanding but I've noticed that in most of the stores like GAP the younger people run the stores. Maybe a 18-20 yr old childless gal wouldn't be very understanding.

 

[Marthatex]

Well, if the babies came 14 weeks early; one died and the other has health problems probably related to being premature.

But many twins do come prematurely anyway, so how do you prove the lifting caused the premature labor? My doctor always told me that pregnant women are alot sturdier than you would think - it takes alot to hurt the baby; like a car wreck or a bad fall. Of course weeks of heavy lifting might be bad, and worse with twins.

Get John Edwards on the case; I'm sure she'd win - ho ho.

 

[graybar hotel]

First of all I wonder if she actually gave the company a note from her doctor to verify that he wanted her hours cut and that she wasn't to lift over 5 lbs?
It's important that they received a note...not just word of mouth. Usually if a company is given a doctor's order they have to abide by it.

That was my first thought. It would be interesting to know the rest of the story.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

The Gap is notorious for doing crap like firing employees who have gained weight and refusing to hire people they consider physically unattractive or too "old", so I would imagine trying to force a pregnant woman to quit wouldn't be a stretch for them

The Family Leave Act would have covered her taking time off for medical reasons until the birth of the children. She didn't have to do the lifting. And, whose to say that, if she did, it was the "sole" cause of the loss of one of the babies. There may have been other complications that caused it and she wants to place blame. We just don't yet know.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

I will only say this about the above post. I disagree wholeheartedly. When I was pregnant with my first child, I went into premature labor frequently toward the end of my pregnancy. My doctor eventually put me on light bed rest- which meant I had to quit my job. My doctor told me to stay off my feet, and I was a waitress. I was not yet married, and that was my only income. I did not have health insurance. I was living hand to mouth. I was in that situation, and I took the health of my child before everything else. I think most mothers would.

I smell a rat with this story. As many people have said, she didn't HAVE to keep the job, if her pregnancy was at risk. She could have asked for help from coworkers, who might have been more sympathetic to her than management. She could have done a lot of things other than to lift those boxes. I say, with the given information, that she was the one who caused the premature labor... I don't know how The Gap could be held liable.

ETA: Yes, it IS easy for me to say, because I did it.

Did you go on welfare in order to do this?

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Did you go on welfare in order to do this?

That's just a tad personal, isn't it?????

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Well, if the babies came 14 weeks early; one died and the other has health problems probably related to being premature.

But many twins do come prematurely anyway, so how do you prove the lifting caused the premature labor? My doctor always told me that pregnant women are alot sturdier than you would think - it takes alot to hurt the baby; like a car wreck or a bad fall. Of course weeks of heavy lifting might be bad, and worse with twins.

Get John Edwards on the case; I'm sure she'd win - ho ho.

I suspect this woman has/had a weak cervix, which means the strain of twins added to exertion might cause the babies to, essentially, fall out. It happened to a friend of mine. She finally had to have a surgical procedure after she got pregnant that effectively closed the cervix off and she had to have a C section. Even then she had to stay in bed for the last 5 months. I did all her shopping for her during that time.

 

[Mabel]

What difference does it make if she had to go on welfare? That's what it's there for, to help people through difficult times. I would have gone on welfare or begged on the street or done whatever was necessary, rather than to risk my pregnancy by doing things the doctor had ordered me not to do.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

That's just a tad personal, isn't it?????

She's the one who was talking about quitting her job while pregnant and unmarried, and essentially scolding this woman for not doing the same. Either she was living with/off relatives, on welfare, or she was homeless. So its one of those or its a crock. In law, its called opening the door for cross examination.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

She's the one who was talking about quitting her job while pregnant and unmarried, and essentially scolding this woman for not doing the same. Either she was living with/off relatives, on welfare, or she was homeless. So its one of those or its a crock. In law, its called opening the door for cross examination.

She's not on trial here and you're not a lawyer, so go ahead and ask questions, but if she doesn't want to answer them, back off, ok?

 

[tybee204]

Some people, and some of them happen to be managers, are not friendly at all towards the idea of pregnant employees. I've been on a forum with other pregnant women during my pregnancy, and there have been some good stories in just our small group - the worst is an employer who cut a salary employee's paycheck by $450 because she had some doctors appointments, and tried to demote her to an hourly employee, and was making some hostile comments about the laws that required him to keep her job for her during maternity leave. She wasn't looking for much at all in the line of accomodations, but he thought it was all a bunch of BS that he couldn't just get rid of her, that his business had to deal with keeping her.

Fortunately, she knew enough about her rights not to just accept it... but it's a huge issue, and you are in a very insecure position when pregnant, so far as jobs are concerned. You need medical insurance - a birth can easily run 10 grand without complications - not to mention paying for doctors visits, lab tests, ultrasounds, etc. before the birth. So, you need to keep your job. A new job (even if you can get one, pushing a pregnant belly in front of you into the interview room) is not required to help you out the same way as a job you held before becoming pregnant, and the medical insurance may not cover the expenses.

It may have come down to - lift these boxes, and keep your job, or don't lift them, and become homeless without medical insurance, with a complicated pregnancy. Sure, you can go to a lawyer and sue... and while that is going on, you are homeless without medical insurance - not an acceptable solution. And lifting the boxes might not do anything bad - it's easy to do more than you are supposed to - I overdid it during my pregnancy - knew I was doing a bit much (moving day), but until my body protested after the fact, I didn't think I was doing anything that might be dangerous. So many rules to being pregnant that you can't follow all of them, so many that you can bend, so many pregnant women who break them and have no problems, and you think you can do it too.

And maybe she could have gotten enough assistance to keep everything afloat - but it doen't take much of a problem to eliminate all your savings and a bit more, and make you homeless.

My issue with this is that becoming pregnant is a personal decision that your employer should not be required to become financially responsible for. As an example my good friend owns a small Interior Design Business. Last year her salaried Office Manager became pregnant. In the 5th month of the pregnancy the employee had to go on light duty and my friend had to hire a second hourly employee to cover for the hours and work lost by the salaried Office Manager.
So how is this fair? This womans personal decision to have a child ended up costing my friend's business around $20,000.

 

[mssheila]

Did you go on welfare in order to do this?

Billy... why on earth would you think that going on WELFARE was my only option? Why would you think I needed supporting by ANYONE? I'm offended by your posts. This one and the ones that came after it. I refuse to get personal with you.

Did you stop to think that some people are able to PLAN and SAVE. I lived off my SAVINGS for a short time. I'm glad I was smart enough at a young age to have savings in the bank for a rainy day.

Come on... no need to personally attack me... I'm not antagonizing you, but you seem to want to fight me in every thread. :slap:

 

[mssheila]

What difference does it make if she had to go on welfare? That's what it's there for, to help people through difficult times. I would have gone on welfare or begged on the street or done whatever was necessary, rather than to risk my pregnancy by doing things the doctor had ordered me not to do.

Exactly what I was trying to say. :blowkiss: