Mexican Woman Fired After Requesting Lighter Duty Role Due to Pregnancy-Related Bleeding

Rosa Linda Soriano Torres, a Mexican Pharmaceutical Chemist, reported getting fired because of her pregnancy and alleged discrimination based on her race, gender and origin.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution informed that Soriano got a TN visa after being recruited to work in industrial engineering last year by the logistic firms GFA Alabama and Glovis Georgia (Hyundai Glovis) in West Point, Georgia.

However, after starting at the company, her role shifted to manual labor, different from the initial offer. After discovering she was expecting her first child in January, she requested light duty after experiencing two episodes of vaginal bleeding.

In response, GFA allegedly told her they “Had never employed a pregnant worker with a TN visa.” Adding that she “should return to Mexico” and have her pregnancy there.

“One GFA manager even told me that what my husband and I had done — becoming pregnant — was very wrong,” Soriano’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint states.

In addition to the pregnancy, managers did not respond well to employees speaking Spanish

In her claim, Soriano explains that GFA managers informed her they couldn’t change her role without a doctor’s note outlining her restrictions. 

“I wanted to keep my job, but I didn’t want to lose my baby,” she told the outlet.

Consequently, she asked permission to take time off for a doctor’s appointment, but the manager only allowed the request two or three weeks later. In February, she received the medical note related to her pregnancy.

The following month, she received her first disciplinary report. Her employer alleged she left work without completing assigned tasks. 

“I noticed that no other employee who left their workstation received a disciplinary report. I believe the GFA managers issued me a disciplinary report in retaliation for my pregnancy and my request for a lighter-duty job,” said Soriano.

She also pointed out that one of her managers became upset when spoke Spanish with her colleagues: “This manager would express that hearing us speak in Spanish was ‘sickening.'”

Other pregnant women reportedly had similar experiences with even more adverse outcomes

Additionally, the Mexican woman asserts her case is not unique. While she struggled to secure a different role within the job, she discovered the company allegedly dismissed other women.

Soriano said the company denied another colleague who got was pregnant around the same time.

“Like me, she had to lift heavy loads at work,” she says. “She told me her supervisor did not want to change her shift because she was pregnant. She had multiple vaginal bleeds and eventually miscarried.”

At the time of publishing this article, GFA has not responded to a request to speak to mitú.