Discrimination is never okay, especially when it's directed towards someone who is or was recently pregnant. One woman in Tallahassee, Florida learned just how awful it feels to be discriminated against, and decided to file a lawsuit as a result. Kissi Moore, a former employee at Whole Foods, is an African-American woman who claims in her racial and pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against the supermarket chain that she was “treated unfairly after her pregnancy and because of her race.”According to Moore, shortly after she gave birth to her child, she was unjustly fired. But what happened? It all began back in November 2016. After working for Whole Foods for nearly two years, Moore went on maternity leave. Upon returning, “she was assigned to a new team leader who had been hired to fill in for a previous team leader, who, coincidentally, was also out on maternity leave.” It turns out the new team leader “scheduled Moore to work eight days in a row, which is not typical at Whole Foods.” After attempting to discuss her schedule with the team leader and telling her that it was “negatively affecting her health and ability to care for her child,” her leader allegedly said, “Welcome to my world.”Not long after the encounter, Moore began to notice a few things. For example, the lawsuit states she began noticing a “disproportionate number of African-American employees being fired.” Additionally, she attempted again to discuss her schedule with her team leader but got nowhere. To make matters worse, she ended up receiving a low score on an evaluation written up by her team leader, “despite the fact that the old team leader had already completed her evaluation before she took maternity leave.” and was informed that she “looked mean and intimidating and that certain employees were afraid of her.”

Pregnant woman; image courtesy of piepie via Pixabay, www.pixabay.com

Moore notes in the lawsuit that never before had she heard those complaints.Then, as if that wasn't enough, when Moore's old team leader, who was Caucasian, returned from maternity leave, she was “encouraged to ease back into the job,” unlike Moore who was allegedly scheduled to “work eight days in a row.”At the end of her rope, she took her complaints to the regional office. Unfortunately, 10 days after doing so, she was fired and was asked to “sign a blank discipline form.” She refused, though the lawsuit claims that, after being fired, she “asked for her personnel file, only to find that the form had reportedly been filled in and forged with her signature.”In response to the lawsuit, Whole Foods issued the following statement:“Whole Foods Market has a long and recognized history of celebrating diversity in our workplace and supporting team member happiness. We strongly disagree with these claims and will respond appropriately to the court.”

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Woman Suing Whole Foods for Racial and Pregnancy DiscriminationEx-Whole Foods worker sues for racial discrimination