No violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination
Act (PDA) occurs when an employer fires a pregnant employee for excessive
absences, even if those absences were the result of the pregnancy — unless
the employer overlooks the comparable absences of nonpregnant employees.
Under the PDA, the prohibition against sex-based employment discrimination in
Title VII applies with equal force to discrimination on the basis of
pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. And, the same
analysis used in other Title VII sex discrimination lawsuits is required for a
pregnancy discrimination claim.
In Armindo v. Padlocker, Inc. (11th Cir. April
20, 2000), Padlocker fired Carine Armindo, an entry level clerical employee,
after she had missed six days of work during her three months of probationary
employment. Armindo’s pregnancy-related illnesses caused five of the
absences, and car trouble caused one. She also missed work for
pregnancy-related reasons
