Federal Court in CT Rules Pregnancy Discrimination Act Protects More Than the Pregnant

In another admirable court decision that recognizes the flexibility and intent of discrimination law, a federal court in Connecticut recently held in Canales v. Schick Manufacturing, Inc., 2011 WL 4345006 (D. Conn. Sept. 15, 2011) that a woman does not have to be pregnant at the time of discrimination under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in denying the employer-defendant’s motion for summary judgment. In Canales the employee was terminated while out on maternity leave and the court, citing the language of the Act, held that the Act does not just cover pregnancy but “childbirth,” as well. (The Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which protects “women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.”).