Farm Labor Contractor to Pay Damages Over Pregnancy Discrimination Charge

Family Fresh Harvesting, LLC, a farm labor contractor which provides temporary H-2A visas to agricultural workers at nurseries in Michigan and farms in Georgia, entered into a conciliation agreement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to resolve a pregnancy discrimination charge, the federal agency announced.

In the charge, a pregnant female H-2A employee alleged that Family Fresh fired her and sent her on a bus back to Mexico after she requested unpaid time off to attend medical appointments for her pregnancy. The termination violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination.

As part of the conciliation agreement, Family Fresh will provide monetary damages to the former employee. In addition, the company will provide training on Title VII, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to all its employees, including human resources, management and supervisory personnel at the beginning of each work season.

The company will also send electronic notice in English and Spanish to all its employees regarding its commitment to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees and hire employees irrespective of their sex or pregnancy.

Source: OSHA