On August 27, 2020, Wigdor LLP filed a pregnancy discrimination and retaliation lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against home decor retailer One Kings Lane, private equity firm CSC Generation Holdings, Inc. (“CSC Generation”) and Justin Yoshimura, the Founder, Chairman and CEO of CSC Generation.
Plaintiffs Katherine Marinaro and Whitney van der Does allege that immediately after CSC Generation acquired One Kings Lane on April 10, 2020, it began making unlawful changes to the company’s policies with respect to maternity leave and paid sick leave.
One week after the acquisition, as alleged, both women were furloughed indefinitely while they were both in their third trimester — just weeks before they were supposed to go on maternity leave — and told that they would not receive any of the maternity benefits that were previously promised to them before the acquisition. The lawsuit alleges that these “furloughs” were never intended to be temporary, but in fact a decision to permanently terminate two female employees because of their pregnancies and expected maternity leaves.
The lawsuit further alleges that after Ms. Marinaro and Ms. van der Does complained of gender and pregnancy discrimination through counsel, CSC Generation belatedly offered to reinstate them, but demanded that they each return to work the very next business day — just weeks after they had given birth. As alleged, CSC Generation provided no information about maternity leave or maternity benefits when it initially contacted them about returning to work. CSC Generation eventually told these women that they would receive fewer weeks of maternity leave than originally promised and diminished the amount that they were to be paid while on maternity leave, according to the Complaint.
Upon information and belief, as alleged in the Complaint, the only reason why CSC Generation offered to reinstate these women at all is because it wanted to reduce the amount of economic damages to which they could be entitled if they filed a lawsuit.
NEW: one week after private equity firm CSC Generation acquired home decor retailer #OneKingsLane, the company abruptly "furloughed" two pregnant employees who were both in their third trimester, a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit alleges. https://t.co/FAq6Klc8Cq
— WigdorLaw (@WigdorLaw) August 27, 2020
Read the Full Complaint HereBusiness Insider
“In new lawsuit, One Kings Lane employees claim parent company CSC Generation used pandemic to deny maternity benefits and unjustly furlough employees — a practice experts worry could become more common”
August 27, 2020
Read PDF
Read Online
Jezebel
“Employees of One Kings Lane Sue Private Equity Firm Over Pregnancy Discrimination”
August 28, 2020
Read PDF
Read Online
Law360
“One Kings Lane Workers Allege Pregnancy Bias in New Suit”
August 28, 2020
Read PDF
Read Online