Real Story of Pregnancy Discrimination

Kim was a saleswoman in the accessories department at Lord and Taylor department store in Chicago, Illinois. Kim worked at the store for three years prior to becoming pregnant. During her first trimester, Kim was experiencing severe morning sickness which caused her to be tardy to work several times. As a result of her tardiness, Kim was put on probation, but during her probation period Kim continued to experience morning sickness and was tardy several more times. After the probation period ended, and on the day before Kim was to go on maternity leave, she was fired. Kim's boss told her she was being fired because she did not think that Kim would return to work after her child was born. Despite the fact that Kim was able to show that her boss discriminated against her, she ultimately did not prevail because she was unable to show that her tardiness was treated any differently than the tardiness of other non-pregnant employees.

Troupe v. The May Department Stores Company, 20 F.3d 734 (7th Cir. 1994).