A former restaurant manager who alleged she was harassed by coworkers shortly after she became pregnant and was not returned to her job after taking FMLA leave was awarded $380,000 by a jury for the restaurant's violations of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the FMLA. (Buffone v. Rosebud Rests., N.D. Ill.)

According to the manager's attorney, the manager was told that "no one wants to watch a pregnant woman while they are eating-that's disgusting" and that she was "getting too big." The plaintiff also alleged that she was not scheduled to work when she was five months into her pregnancy, although she told the restaurant that she wanted to work up until her due date.

While the plaintiff received FMLA leave for the birth of her child, she alleged that when she returned to work she was not reinstated into her prior job or an equivalent job and that her supervisor told her that she had chosen to have a family and she couldn't expect her replacement to step aside.

The restaurant's attorney denied the allegations and said the restaurant would appeal the verdict.

Employer Notes: Ah, those pesky comments made by coworkers and supervisors come back to haunt another employer. To be fair, the restaurant denied that the comments had been made, and the case seemed to be a typical "he said, she said" case. Nonetheless, the best protection against such remarks is to provide regular training for both employees and supervisors on harassment and discrimination. The best defense when an employee alleges that a coworker or supervisor made remarks that exhibit discriminatory intent is for the coworker or supervisor to take the stand and testify that he or she did not say any such thing and would not say any such thing because he or she was trained regularly not to make such remarks.

Council understands that you can't send all of your supervisors and employees off-site to be trained, which is why we offer workplace harassment prevention training for employees and managers/supervisors in both web-based and face-to-face formats. We offer many other programs for on-site training also. For more information on these and other Council On-Site programs, click on the link above or contact Cina Carrigan, Director of On-Site Training, at 704-561-0236 or ccarrigan@counciloned.com.