Alisha Coleman and family/Photo: ACLU
Does your job have grounds to fire you over period problems? Well, according to a Georgia woman, Alisha Coleman, that’s just what happened to her. She is suing her former employer for workplace discrimination.
According to Coleman, who worked as a 911 dispatcher at the Bobby Dodd Institute in Fort Benning, Georgia, she had a period leak on the way to the bathroom on April 22, 2016. However, even after cleaning a spot on the carpet with bleach and disinfectant, her supervisor was instructed to give her the boot. She was let go on April 26, 2016.
As for the reason provided for the layoff, Coleman was told she was being let go because she didn’t “practice high standards of personal hygiene and maintain a clean, neat appearance while on duty,” the lawsuit reads. It’s important to note that the filing also lists two separate occasions where Coleman experienced a leak and was allegedly written up before being fired.
“I loved my job at the 911 call center because I got to help people,” Coleman, who is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, said in a statement. “Every woman dreads getting period symptoms when they’re not expecting them, but I never thought I could be fired for it. Getting fired for an accidental period leak was humiliating. I don’t want any woman to have to go through what I did, so I’m fighting back.”
The ACLU and co-counsel Buckley Beal LLP say Coleman’s case is one of workplace discrimination based on sex, including “pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.” Furthermore, they argue that it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. While, the motion was dismissed in district court in February, Coleman’s team is taking the suit to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Employers have no business policing women’s bodies or their menstrual cycles,” executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, Andrea Young, said in a statement. “Firing a woman for getting her period at work is offensive and an insult to every woman in the workplace. A heavy period is something nearly all women will experience, especially as they approach menopause, and Alisha was shamed, demeaned and fired for it. That’s wrong and illegal under federal law. We’re fighting back.”
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Alisha Coleman and family/Photo: ACLU
Does your job have grounds to fire you over period problems? Well, according to a Georgia woman, Alisha Coleman, that’s just what happened to her. She is suing her former employer for workplace discrimination.
According to Coleman, who worked as a 911 dispatcher at the Bobby Dodd Institute in Fort Benning, Georgia, she had a period leak on the way to the bathroom on April 22, 2016. However, even after cleaning a spot on the carpet with bleach and disinfectant, her supervisor was instructed to give her the boot. She was let go on April 26, 2016.
As for the reason provided for the layoff, Coleman was told she was being let go because she didn’t “practice high standards of personal hygiene and maintain a clean, neat appearance while on duty,” the lawsuit reads. It’s important to note that the filing also lists two separate occasions where Coleman experienced a leak and was allegedly written up before being fired.
“I loved my job at the 911 call center because I got to help people,” Coleman, who is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, said in a statement. “Every woman dreads getting period symptoms when they’re not expecting them, but I never thought I could be fired for it. Getting fired for an accidental period leak was humiliating. I don’t want any woman to have to go through what I did, so I’m fighting back.”
The ACLU and co-counsel Buckley Beal LLP say Coleman’s case is one of workplace discrimination based on sex, including “pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.” Furthermore, they argue that it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. While, the motion was dismissed in district court in February, Coleman’s team is taking the suit to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Employers have no business policing women’s bodies or their menstrual cycles,” executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, Andrea Young, said in a statement. “Firing a woman for getting her period at work is offensive and an insult to every woman in the workplace. A heavy period is something nearly all women will experience, especially as they approach menopause, and Alisha was shamed, demeaned and fired for it. That’s wrong and illegal under federal law. We’re fighting back.”
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Read more https://blackdoctor.org/515834/woman-sues-employer-for-firing-her-over-period-leaks/