Bill Donohue comments on Macy’s firing of an employee going through a high-risk pregnancy:
Anabelle Mayi had been working at Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan for two-and-a-half years when she was diagnosed with a high-risk pregnancy in April 2015. She requested reasonable accommodations, like a chair or stool so she could sit down periodically while working at the counter. According to Manhattan Legal Services, which filed a charge with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she was first told “this would not be possible” but that a transfer to an office job would be. But although her physician filled out the required Family and Medical Leave Act paperwork requesting the needed accommodations, Macy’s did not provide them. When Mayi subsequently took several sick days for pregnancy-related illness, Manhattan Legal Services says she found her employee access blocked. On July 7, she was officially terminated.
It is incredible that Macy’s can make accommodations for men who think they are women—allowing them to use the women’s bathrooms, even at the discomfort of other customers, and firing employees who voice religious objections (click here). But they cannot give a chair to an employee with a high risk pregnancy in order to safeguard her and her baby’s health.
Contact Christine Olver, media relations manager: christine.olver@macys.com
