Kameisha Denton was told she would be given no more shifts at a restaurant after asking her manager for maternity leave.
He replied saying it was "not a good time" to have a member of staff off work — and accused her of failing to tell him in advance.
Pregnant Ms Denton had been working for a few days in her role at restaurant chain Jersey Mike’s Subs in Washington state, US.
She texted her boss letting him know that she was expecting, writing: "This will not interfere with my performance and I will be back after the baby is born."
But after realising she was not being rota'd for any shifts she again messaged her manager, named only as Marcos.
According to screenshots of their conversation he replied telling her it was "not going to workout with Jersey Mikes".
He added: "It’s not a good time for us to have someone who is leaving for maternity leave in several months anyways.
"You also failed to tell me this during your interview. Good luck”.
Ms Denton, whose baby is due in December, shared the exchange on Facebook earlier this month asking if the manager’s reason for sacking her was “allowed”.
Her post has since been shared and liked thousands of times and the young woman has been inundated with comments and advice.
One Facebook user said: “That’s absolutely illegal. Sue the company and that person individually.”
Another wrote: “Pretty sure you can sue! They legally cannot do this, you need a job to support your family an for them to fire you because you’re pregnant they will get into huge trouble."
One comment read: “A workplace is also supposed to give you three months of maternity leave, unless you choose to take a shorter time … them stating that you are not allowed to work at a place due to pregnancy is absolutely ridiculous".
Ms Denton responded, confirming she was “definitely going to sue” the franchise.
In an interview with TV station KIRO7, Ms Denton said she was stunned after reading the message.
She said: “I was just like in shock, it took me a minute to face reality I was like this is really happening".
The station reached out to business owner Tim Trieb, who said the manager who fired Ms Denton had resigned.
He said: “(It) should have never ever happened … It’s our policy to treat everybody equally".
Mr Trieb said he had offered to give Ms Denton her job back but she had refused.
She said she had received a number of other job opportunities since her story went viral.
Parts of this article originally appeared on News.com.au
Source: Read Full Article