Minnesota dental clinic is ordered to pay pregnant woman $100,000 after she was fired for being ‘very hormonal’
- Christina Vescio-Holland was expecting twins when she was fired from PL Dental in Coon Rapids
- PL Dental will pay $97,000 to Vescio-Holland – after they tried to blame the dismissal on performance issues, for which the department found no evidence
A Minnesota dental clinic has been ordered to pay a pregnant woman nearly $100,000 after she was fired for being “highly hormonal.”
Christina Vescio-Holland was expecting twins when she was fired from PL Dental in Coon Rapids, but this led to a discrimination investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
After informing her employer in late December 2020 that she needed to begin parental leave, “the office manager told Vescio-Holland that she had decided to terminate her employment because Vescio-Holland was ‘very hormonal,'” according to the MDHR.
Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said, “State law has prohibited pregnancy discrimination for decades, and this case reminds us how important it is for employers to have supportive policies for pregnant workers.”
PL Dental will now pay $97,000 to Vescio-Holland – after they tried to blame the dismissal on performance issues, for which the department found no evidence.
Christina Vescio-Holland was expecting twins when she was fired from PL Dental in Coon Rapids – but it led to a discrimination investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights
She is pictured with her colleague (far right) in front of her former workplace
In addition to the monetary settlement, PL Dental must submit regular reports to government authorities to monitor compliance with the anti-discrimination policy.
The $97,000 is about three years wages for the mother.
Vescio-Holland said in a statement: “I just want people to know they have options if something like this happens.
“And don’t give up because only one door closes; keep fighting.’
Images posted on the dental practice’s social media show the mother laughing with her colleagues just months before she was fired.
“Pregnancy discrimination may include an employer denying a pregnant employee a temporary reasonable accommodation, or an employer firing an employee or denying a promotion based on the employee’s pregnancy,” the MDHR said.
After informing her employer in late December 2020 that she needed to begin parental leave, “the office manager told Vescio-Holland that she had decided to terminate her employment because Vescio-Holland was ‘very hormonal,'” according to the MDHR.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more than 2,200 reports of pregnancy discrimination last year.
This comes after a pregnant PR executive was fired from her $120,000-a-year position at a New York City firm after her boss claimed she “couldn’t be trusted” because of her “pregnancy brain,” a lawsuit alleged.
Racann McKnight, 37, claims she was fired by Press Hook after being “cruelly and unlawfully verbally abused” by the company’s founder and CEO, Michelle Songy, during a “campaign of gendered harassment.”
McKnight claims Songy, also 37, made a series of harmful comments before she was fired, including “squeeze tight and keep the baby inside longer,” court documents allege. She also told other staff that ‘no one else is better at getting pregnant’, it is alleged.
Songy, who lives in a $2 million home in Atlanta, Georgia, is further accused of failing to support McKnight while she was suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, a serious form of illness, while pregnant.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Songy said McKnight’s claims are “completely baseless” and that she and her company are “prepared to launch a full legal defense.”