Pregnancy Restrictions, a Denied Transfer, and a Late-Documented Discharge
Nadia works as an emergency-room nurse at a 120-bed California hospital. After 28 weeks of a twin pregnancy, her obstetrician restricts her to lifting no more than 20 pounds and no shifts longer than eight hours. The hospital's light-duty program is available only to employees recovering from industrial injuries. HR tells Nadia that because she cannot perform the essential functions of an ER nurse, she must take unpaid leave; no one mentions the Pregnancy Disability Leave law. Nadia asks to transfer to an open triage-desk position, which involves sitting, telephone screening, and no lifting. The nurse manager says the desk is "reserved for senior staff" and denies the request. Nadia files an internal complaint alleging pregnancy discrimination. Two weeks later, she is terminated for a medication error that occurred six months earlier and was never documented at the time. Her supervisor had remarked, "We need someone reliable." Nadia had also taken eight weeks of FMLA leave the prior year.
1. Analyze the hospital's obligations under FEHA and the Pregnancy Disability Leave law, including the interactive process and transfer to the triage position.
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Pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions are protected under FEHA. The Pregnancy Disability Leave law (Government Code section 12945) requires covered employers to provide up to four months of leave and reasonable accommodation unless doing so would cause undue hardship. The hospital erred by treating the 20-pound restriction and eight-hour limit as an automatic disqualification. FEHA requires a timely, good-faith interactive process and consideration of accommodations, including transfer to a vacant position for which the employee is qualified.
The open triage-desk job is a vacant position. The "senior staff" rationale must rest on a bona fide requirement, not a preference or pretext. An employer need not create a new position or displace another employee, but it must consider reassignment. The light-duty program limited to industrial injuries is not a defense if it operates to deny accommodation to a pregnant employee; the hospital could have offered the same temporary modified duties. Forcing unpaid leave when an accommodation exists can itself be discrimination.
The failure to mention PDL and the failure to engage in the interactive process are separate violations. The hospital should have documented the essential functions, assessed the triage position, and considered temporary transfer. Its failure to do so exposes it to a FEHA accommodation claim independent of the termination.
2. Evaluate the retaliation claim. How should the hospital analyze causation and the mixed-motive defense?
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Retaliation under FEHA (Government Code section 12940(h)) requires protected activity, an adverse action, and a causal link. Nadia's internal complaint is protected, and termination two weeks later supports an inference of causation. The hospital will likely assert the medication error as a legitimate reason, but the timing and documentation problems undermine that defense: the error was six months old, never documented, and suddenly invoked after her complaint. The supervisor's "reliable" comment, combined with the denial of accommodation, supports pretext.
Under Harris v. City of Santa Monica, if the hospital proves it would have made the same decision regardless of retaliatory motive, the employee cannot recover damages, but the mixed-motive analysis does not require proof that retaliation was the sole cause. The prior FMLA leave also raises CFRA and FMLA retaliation risk, especially if the leave was considered in the "reliability" comment. The hospital should preserve emails, scheduling records, and the medication-error file. A jury could find the error explanation pretextual.
The stronger defense would be a contemporaneous, consistently applied disciplinary process, which appears absent. The case should be evaluated as a high-risk retaliation claim, not merely a pregnancy accommodation claim.
3. What remedies and litigation risks should the hospital consider, and what corrective steps would reduce exposure?
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Remedies may include back pay, front pay, lost benefits, emotional distress damages, reinstatement, and attorney's fees under FEHA. Punitive damages are available against a corporate employer if a managing agent acted with malice or reckless indifference under Civil Code section 3294; the supervisor's comment and HR's refusal to consider transfer could support that finding. FEHA fee-shifting is one-way, so the hospital's exposure includes Nadia's fees even for partial success, and the same-decision defense may reduce damages without eliminating fees in every circumstance.
The hospital should consider early mediation, a separation agreement with a knowing and voluntary release of FEHA claims, and corrective action. It should audit its light-duty and accommodation policies, train HR on PDL, and preserve the triage-job posting. The medication-error file must not be altered; spoliation would be devastating. A realistic reserve should include back pay from termination, mitigation offsets, and emotional distress. Corrective steps include reinstating Nadia pending review, engaging an independent decision-maker on the medication error, and documenting the interactive process going forward.