A federal judge in Illinois has allowed a former Amazon worker fired shortly after disclosing her pregnancy to proceed with a discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Court says close timing creates plausible claim
The plaintiff, identified as Ms. Delitz, told the retailer she was expecting and said the company cut her overtime hours. After she asked for light‑duty work, the employer allegedly eliminated overtime altogether.
Seventeen days later, the company terminated her, citing an incident where she allegedly sat in a trailer two months earlier. Ms. Delitz denied the allegation and said she never received a written warning.
The district court highlighted the short interval between the pregnancy disclosure, the scheduling changes, and the dismissal. It wrote that “given the close connection” the employee “has plausibly alleged at least one adverse employment action caused by her sex and pregnancy.”
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That reasoning mirrors other cases where courts view suspicious timing as evidence of retaliation. In a recent Alabama decision, a therapist’s firing less than a week after revealing a gender identity claim was deemed sufficiently close to move forward.
Employer’s stance and related litigation
The company did not reply to a request for comment. Alongside the discrimination suit, Ms. Delitz also alleged violations of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act for failing to accommodate her condition. The court dismissed that portion, finding no direct link between the alleged scrutiny and the accommodation’s effectiveness.
Pregnancy‑related claims often invoke the PWFA, which grants broad rights to reasonable accommodations absent undue hardship. Last year, a separate case in Florida involved an Amazon employee with a life‑threatening ectopic pregnancy who sued under the PWFA, the ADA, FMLA and state law. That dispute settled earlier this summer.
It is worth noting that the pattern of reduced hours followed by termination is not unique to this case. Similar sequences have appeared in other employment disputes, suggesting that timing alone can raise questions about motive, even when the employer offers a different rationale.
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In this instance, the court found it “reasonable to infer that the firing — for an isolated incident months earlier — was the culmination of a pattern of escalating adverse actions that began when the worker disclosed her pregnancy.”
Legal analysts observe that courts often weigh the proximity of protected activity to adverse action when evaluating discrimination claims. The principle is that a short gap can support an inference of causation, especially when the employer’s stated reason appears vague or unrelated.
The decision does not resolve the underlying dispute but allows Ms. Delitz to pursue her Title VII claim in court. If the case proceeds, the parties may present evidence on whether the scheduling changes were legitimate business decisions or a pretext for unlawful treatment.
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