EEOC Sues Step2 Company for Sex, Pregnancy, and Disability Discrimination and Retaliation

CLEVELAND — Step2 Company, LLC, a toy and plastic products manufacturer with plants in Northern Ohio, violated federal law by failing to provide reasonable accommodations to a pregnant employee with disabilities and firing her, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the suit, Step2 disciplined an assembly worker, who worked at the company’s Perrysville, Ohio facility, under its attendance policy when she was absent because of pregnancy-related medical conditions and took approved leave for chronic mental health conditions. The suit alleges Step2 failed to accommodate the employee by excusing her pregnancy- and disability-related absences and also denied her requests to sit down briefly between assemblies, take more frequent breaks, and avoid working on highly physically strenuous assemblies because of her pregnancy or related medical conditions. Instead, Step2 retaliated against the worker for requesting accommodations, interfered with her ability to further seek reasonable accommodations, and then fired her in July 2024, the EEOC said.

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for an employee’s known limitations related to pregnancy and pregnancy-related medical conditions, and the Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities,” said Debra M. Lawrence, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Philadelphia District. “An employer cannot illegitimately deny an employee reasonable accommodations to a general attendance policy and then use the policy to fire her.”

The conduct alleged violates the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions unless they would cause undue hardship; it also violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits disability discrimination and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities unless it would cause undue hardship.

The alleged conduct also violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including pregnancy, childbirth, or pregnancy-related medical conditions; violates PWFA and ADA protections against retaliation; and violates PWFA prohibitions against interference with employees’ rights under the statute.

EEOC Philadelphia District Deputy Director Karen McDonough said, “Federal law gives employees the right to reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related medical conditions and disabilities as long as the accommodations will not impose an undue hardship on the employer. Employers must not retaliate against employees for exercising those rights or erect barriers that interfere with their exercise.”

The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Step2 Company, LLC, Case No. 1:26-cv-01562) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

The PWFA went into effect June 27, 2023. Resources for employees and employers are available at: https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-should-know-about-pregnant-workers-fairness-act.

For more information on disability or pregnancy discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/disability-discrimination and https://www.eeoc.gov/pregnancy-discrimination.

The lawsuit was initiated by the EEOC’s Cleveland Field Office, one of four component offices of the agency’s Philadelphia District Office. The Philadelphia District Office has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, and portions of New Jersey and Ohio. Attorneys in the Philadelphia District Office also prosecute discrimination cases in Washington, D.C., and portions of 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.