Feds Sue Bloomberg L.P. For Discrimination Against Pregnant Women

The federal government is suing Bloomberg L.P., the financial services and media giant founded by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, saying the company engaged in a pattern of discrimination against women after they became pregnant and took maternity leave, according to the New York Times.

In the suit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charges that female employees at Bloomberg were demoted and had their pay cut after they disclosed that they were pregnant, the Times said.

The suit was filed in United States District Court in Manhattan yesterday, the Times said.

A spokesperson for Bloomberg L.P. told the Times that the company would fight the suit, and company representatives denied the allegations to the newspaper.

The lawsuit names three high-level female employees–Jill Patricot, Janet Loures and Tanys Lancaster–as plaintiffs, but said the action was filed on behalf of a “class of female employees affected by such unlawful practices,” according to the Times.

The women filed a discrimination complaint with the EEOC last year. In June 2007, the commission’s New York district director, Spencer H. Lewis Jr., determined that there was cause to bring a complaint against the company for discrimination, the Times said.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 9/28/07