ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 3, 1996 TAG: 9608050050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
AN AIRLINE DENIES firing a Roanoke woman, saying that she refused to work and that the company does allow pregnancy leave.
A Roanoke woman says she was fired from her airline job because the company didn't want someone who was "swollen and bloated" working behind the ticket counter.
In a lawsuit filed last month in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Tammy Engel claims that's what happened in March 1995 when she told her supervisors at Mesaba-northwest Airlink at Roanoke Regional Airport that she was pregnant. She is suing Minnesota-based Mesaba Aviation Inc. for an unspecified amount.
Engel claims that Christy Albright, the head customer service agent, told her the company did not allow pregnant women to work there and that she would have to leave.
The lawsuit contends that Engel's immediate supervisor, Tim Callahan, fired her in June 1995 because she was a liability to Mesaba.
Engel, who was a part-time customer service agent at the airport for about seven months, sold airline tickets and loaded baggage weighing up to 70 pounds onto a cargo ramp behind the ticket counter.
According to the lawsuit, Callahan told Engel she could re-apply for her job after giving birth, but that she would lose her seniority.
Albright would not comment about the lawsuit other than say Engel was not fired. Callahan, who left his job at Mesaba in May, could not be reached for comment.
John Fredrickson, legal counsel for Mesaba Aviation Inc., said the company did not fire Engel.
"Our policy is that a person can work until their doctor says she can no longer work, and then she gets pregnancy leave," Fredrickson said.
But, Fredrickson said, Engel ``said she wouldn't do the job. You may call that being fired, but we don't."
Under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which was passed in 1978, companies that employ 15 or more workers must treat pregnancy as a disability. The law allows a pregnant employee to decide the length of her pregnancy leave based on her ability to work.
This year, a Roanoke Circuit Court judge dismissed a similar lawsuit brought by former Scott-Gallaher Inc. employee Lisa Bailey, ruling that Virginia's sexual discrimination laws do not apply to someone who is pregnant. The Virginia Supreme Court agreed in June to review the case and is expected to make a decision by the end of the year.
Leslie Wolfe, president of the Center for Women Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., said Engel's federal case boils down to sex discrimination.
``How would an employer know if [Engel] can lift 70 pounds or not?'' Wolfe said. ``It is the woman and physician's decision to say whether or not a pregnant employee can do the work, not the employer.
"Obviously, discrimination against people because they are pregnant is discrimination against women.''
Bayard Harris, a lawyer with The Center for Employment Law in Roanoke, disagreed with Wolfe, arguing that pregnancy discrimination and sex discrimination are different.
The pregnancy discrimination act tells an employer ``that they have no absolute duty to allow a pregnant person to work so long as their policy is to treat a person with other disabilities in the same fashion,'' Harris said.
``It is based only on the ability or inability to work.''
Terry Grimes, a Roanoke lawyer who represents Engel, said no court date on the suit has been set.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JENNIFER MILLER STAFF WRITERby CNB