Ex-Hooters Waitress Says Pregnancy Got Her Fired

[kfrost06]

(CBS) LOS ANGELES A former waitress at the Hooters restaurant in Long Beach sued the company alleging she was fired because she became pregnant, according to court papers obtained Monday.

Amanda Wilson filed the suit Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging sex and pregnancy disability discrimination. She is seeking unspecified general, compensatory and punitive damages.

A Hooters spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Wilson was hired as a waitress in the summer of 2006 to work at the Long Beach restaurant at 130 Pine Ave., the suit states. By last September, she was promoted to a position in which she alternated between waitress and supervisory duties, according to the suit.

In October 2006, Wilson told her bosses that she was pregnant and asked to work fewer hours, to avoid lifting heavy objects and to take time off for prenatal care by a doctor, the suit states.

In alleged retaliation for her announcement she was pregnant and for her requests for accommodation, Hooters management cut her work week from five days to one day and trimmed her supervisory responsibilities, the suit states.

Wilson also maintains management ignored her concerns about alleged health and safety violations at the restaurant, even though the location was briefly closed last November by the county Health Department, the suit states.

Wilson was taken off the work schedule entirely by December, effectively firing her, the suit states. However, her supervisors offered her a management position in February when they learned she filed a complaint with the federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the suit states.

Wilson declined the management offer because she wanted to work only 30 hours a week because of her pregnancy, and managers typically have 50-hour weekly employment schedules, the suit states.

[kfrost06]

Treat me differently because I am pregnant but treat me the same or I'll sue???