Blaine Business Fined for Pregnancy Discrimination
ST. PAUL (WJON News) - The Minnesota Department of Human Rights has announced a settlement between an employer and an employee who claims she was fired within one hour of announcing her pregnancy.
An MDHR investigation found that Pet Ranch, which operates Four Paws and a Tail in Blaine, offered Hannah Grell a sales job in September of 2022. She accepted the job and then was issued a uniform and given a work schedule. It was during that meeting she told the manager she was pregnant.
About an hour later, Grell received a voicemail rescinding the job offer, along with a text message saying the company “decided to go another route”.
Investigators determined Pet Ranch fired Grell because she was pregnant. In addition, the company did not have any anti-discrimination policies in place for pregnant employees.
Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero says the discrimination was blatant.
Pet Ranch fired Hannah one hour after learning she was pregnant. This was blatant pregnancy discrimination. Hannah had already collected her uniform and gotten her shifts when she was fired. What should have been a happy start to a new job changed quickly because of discrimination.
The settlement requires Pet Ranch to pay Grell $22,000 and take action to prevent any future discrimination. The office will monitor the agreement for three years.
Pregnancy discrimination has been illegal in Minnesota since 1977.
Pregnancy discrimination can include an employer denying a temporary reasonable accommodation to a pregnant employee or an employer firing or denying a promotion to an employee based on the employee’s pregnancy.
A potential or current employee is not required to tell an employer that they are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. Additionally, an employer cannot ask a potential or current employee if they are pregnant or plan to have children.
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