Smithfield Fresh Meats Corp. to Pay $245,000 in EEOC Pregnancy Discrimination Suit

RALEIGH, N.C. — Smithfield Fresh Meats Corp., a pork processing company with a location in Tar Heel, North Carolina, will pay $245,000 and provide other relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the employee informed Smithfield of her pregnancy shortly after she was hired. After the employee was involved in a workplace accident, she began having pregnancy-related complications. The employee told Smithfield of her pregnancy-related restrictions and requested reasonable accommodation. The Smithfield, Virginia-headquartered company, which operates the largest pork processing facility in the world, told the employee it does not provide pregnancy accommodations and fired her, the suit said.

“Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy related restrictions unless it causes an undue hardship for the employer,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District. “This case underscores the need for employers to have a policy in place with sufficient training and oversight to ensure that managers fully understand their responsibilities regarding the types of accommodations that must be made under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.”

Such alleged conduct violates the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which prohibits discrimination because of pregnancy. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Smithfield Fresh Meats Corp., Case No. 7:25-cv-01410) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

Samuel H. Williams, trial attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, said, “The PWFA guarantees pregnant employees an equal opportunity to work. The EEOC is committed to holding employers accountable when they violate those rights and to pursuing all appropriate relief for victims of discrimination.”

Under the two-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit, Smithfield will ensure effective policies and procedures are in place to govern the receipt and processing of requests for reasonable accommodations under the PWFA; provide training on the PWFA to managers and human resources employees; and provide periodic reports to the EEOC.

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

The EEOC’s Charlotte District Office has jurisdiction over North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

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.