EEOC Sues Support Center for Child Advocates for Pregnancy Discrimination

PHILADELPHIA – Support Center for Child Advocates (SCCA), which provides legal assistance and social services to juveniles, violated federal law when it denied an employee with a high-risk pregnancy an accommodation to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the lawsuit, the employee, a social worker, sought to limit her exposure to COVID-19 by working at home except for home visits and court appointments. SCCA granted this same accommodation to her non-pregnant co-worker, the agency alleges. Due to the threat to her health, the social worker was forced to resign.

Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, pregnancy, or pregnancy-related conditions. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Support Center for Child Advocates, Case No. 2:25-cv-00310) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

“Failing to provide accommodations to pregnant employees can be a form of discrimination that may violate several of the statutes enforced by the EEOC,” said EEOC Philadelphia Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence. “When pregnant employees request reasonable accommodations, employers must be aware of their duties under Title VII, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and, in some instances, the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

For more information on pregnancy discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/pregnancy-discrimination.  

The EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and parts of New Jersey and Ohio. Attorneys in the Philadelphia District Office also prosecute discrimination cases in Washington, D.C. and parts of Virginia.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC.gov)