Spokane woman claims she was fired for asking to take bathroom breaks while pregnant

A Spokane County woman has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired from her job doing laundry at a hotel because she asked to be allowed to use the bathroom and take breaks while pregnant.

In a suit filed last week in Spokane County Superior Court, Alma Hernandez alleges she was wrongfully terminated from the Pheasant Hill Inn and Suites in Spokane Valley last August in violation of state laws prohibiting discrimination against pregnant employees.

A manager at the hotel said she was not aware of the suit and declined to comment on it. An employee at Warren Resort Hotels, a California-based company that owns the hotel, also declined to comment on Hernandez’s allegations.

According to her complaint, Hernandez was hired by the hotel in October 2014 and regularly worked a full shift without taking meal, rest or bathroom breaks, which are required by state law. After she became pregnant, she was no longer able to work without breaks and asked in August 2015 to have another employee on her shift help with laundry.

“The work was so much that it did not allow for the taking of breaks,” said Ryan Best, Hernandez’s attorney.

The hotel’s general manager allegedly told Hernandez that her supervisor would help with laundry and told her to continue taking breaks. Two weeks later, her supervisor sent her a text saying she was being terminated for performance issues, the complaint said. When she asked for elaboration, she was told she was fired because of her attitude, the complaint said.

Hernandez’s attorney said pregnancy discrimination is common in low-wage jobs, often because of “reckless indifference” from employers who often don’t know they’re breaking the law.

“I think they could know if they bothered to know,” Best said.