Every example below is a fictionalized composite created for educational purposes. The employees, employers, and facts are invented and do not represent any real person, company, or case. These examples are general public information, not legal advice.
- Fictional employee
- J.V., loan officer
- Fictional employer
- Harborview Manufacturing Group
- Location
- a city in the Great Lakes region
- Illustrated statute
- Title VII as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act
Illustrative charge narrative
I was employed by Harborview Manufacturing Group as a loan officer in a city in the Great Lakes region. After I informed my supervisor that I was pregnant, my hours were reduced and I was removed from my regular duties and reassigned to a lesser role. Coworkers who were not pregnant were not treated this way. The timing followed closely after my disclosure. I believe I was discriminated against because of pregnancy, in violation of Title VII as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
Teaching point
Effective because it pleads temporal proximity, the close timing between the protected event (disclosure of pregnancy) and the adverse action (demotion), which is powerful circumstantial evidence of causation.