JAG Physical Therapy to Pay $125,000 in EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit

NEW YORK — PT Administrative Services LLC, a large chain of physical therapy clinics doing business as JAG Physical Therapy, will pay $125,000 and furnish other relief to settle a childbirth discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

In the lawsuit, the EEOC charged that in late 2023, the employee, a patient services coordinator at the Brooklyn Heights JAG location, reached out the day she gave birth to ask about a brief leave or a schedule change, reasonable accommodations that would have permitted her to physically recover from childbirth and facilitated her lactation.  JAG allegedly refused to grant these accommodations and immediately fired the employee simply for asking about them.

“Despite being fired at an extremely vulnerable time in her life, the patient services coordinator never stopped fighting for her rights,” said Daniel Seltzer, trial attorney in the EEOC’s New York District Office. “Now, thanks to her courage in coming forward, other JAG employees will receive the childbirth- and pregnancy-related accommodations to which they’re entitled.”

JAG’s alleged conduct violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires employers, absent undue hardship, to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions and prohibits punishing an employee for asking about or using such accommodations. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (EEOC v. PT Administrative Services LLC d/b/a JAG Physical Therapy, Case No. 1:25-cv-03615) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

Arlean Nieto, acting director of the EEOC’s New York District, said, “The EEOC is committed to enforcing the PWFA and ensuring that employers understand their accommodation obligations.”

In addition to monetary relief, the consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires training for managers and human resources employees; significant revisions to the employee handbook concerning accommodations and protections under the PWFA; an annual message from the director of human resources regarding those accommodations and protections; and compliance-related reporting to the EEOC.

For more information on pregnancy discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/pregnancy-discrimination. For resources on the PWFA, please see: https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-should-know-about-pregnant-workers-fairness-act.

The EEOC’s New York District Office has jurisdiction over New York, northern New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.