EEOC Sues Family Dollar Stores of North Carolina for Pregnancy Discrimination in Alleged Violation of PWFA

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores of North Carolina, LLC, a Matthews, North Carolina-headquartered retailer with a store in Greenville, violated federal law by refusing to provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s pregnancy-related limitations and then firing her, according to a lawsuit announced today by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, on Dec. 31, 2024, on her day off, a customer service representative experienced pregnancy-related medical issues, including vaginal bleeding, high blood pressure, swelling in her legs, and back pain. The employee notified the store manager that her doctor referred her to a high-risk clinic and wanted her off work until the appointment three days later, requiring her to miss two scheduled shifts.

The store manager called the employee and insisted that she provide a doctor’s note before the night was over, even though it was New Year’s Eve. When the employee was unable to produce the note, the store manager fired her, saying, “[I’m] going to have to go ahead and let you go.” At her appointment on Jan. 3, 2025, the employee learned she had miscarried.

“Firing a worker for requesting time off to address urgent pregnancy-related medical concerns is not only unlawful — it is indefensible,” said acting EEOC General Counsel Catherine Eschbach. “To add loss of family income to the tragic loss of a baby is incredibly stressful. The EEOC will not hesitate to take decisive action when employers violate these protections. We are committed to ensuring that pregnant workers are treated with dignity, granted the accommodations to which they are entitled, and protected from punitive treatment when they seek medical care. Employers who attempt to sidestep these obligations should expect full accountability.”

Such alleged conduct violates the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, absent an undue hardship. The PWFA also makes it unlawful to fire an employee for needing or requesting an accommodation and prohibits employers from interfering with the exercise of rights granted by the PWFA.

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act prohibits employers from discharging an employee because the employee requested a pregnancy-related accommodation,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District. “While the law allows employers to seek medical documentation to support a pregnancy-related accommodation in some situations, they may only do so when it is reasonable under the circumstances.”

Such alleged conduct also violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination because of pregnancy.

The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Family Dollar Stores of North Carolina, LLC., Case No. 4:26-cv-00156-FL) in the U.S. District for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Eastern Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. The EEOC seeks monetary damages for the employee, including compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive relief against the employer to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

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