A Dollar General worker was fired 'immediately' after telling her manager she was pregnant, a federal agency says

• A Dollar General manager in Georgia fired a worker after learning she was pregnant, the EEOC claimed.
• Her dismissal was "discriminatory and motivated by her pregnancy," the EEOC said.
• The retailer has agreed to pay $42,500 to settle the lawsuit.

A Dollar General worker in Georgia was fired after telling her store manager that she was pregnant, the Equal Employment Oppor­tunity Commission claimed in a lawsuit.

The discount retailer has now agreed to pay $42,500 to the former worker to settle the claims.

On September 15, 2020, around a month after starting as a sales associate at a Dollar General store in Baldwin, around 80 miles northeast of Atlanta, Calleigh Rutledge told the store manager that she was pregnant, the EEOC wrote in its lawsuit, filed September 2022. She mainly worked as a cashier and didn't request pregnancy-related or maternity leave or suggest that she was unable to work due to her pregnancy, the EEOC said.

But "immediately" after learning about her pregnancy, the manager told Rutledge that she couldn't work there and discharged her "due to her pregnancy," the EEOC claimed.

Later that day, the manager called Rutledge to apologize for firing her and said she'd inquire whether she could return to work for two hours per day on light duty, the EEOC claimed.

Two days later, in response to a text from Rutledge, the manager confirmed to her that she was still employed, per the lawsuit. But the next day she got a separation notice that listed her discharge as due to "health reasons," the EEOC said.

This was just three days after Rutledge first told the manager she was pregnant, per the lawsuit.

Rutledge "was never again placed on the work schedule," the EEOC wrote in the lawsuit.

The EEOC claimed that Rutledge's discharge was "discriminatory and motivated by her pregnancy." The lawsuit asked for back pay, front pay, punitive damages, and other relief.

Dollar General admitted in its answer to the lawsuit that Rutledge's employment was entered in its records as voluntarily terminated due to health reasons on September 15, 2020 and that she didn't work any shifts after that date.

But Dollar General said that Rutledge wasn't treated differently because of her pregnancy status. "Dollar General asserts that there is no causal connection between Ms. Rutledge's sex or alleged pregnancy, and any adverse employment action allegedly suffered by Ms. Rutledge," it wrote.

In a consent order signed by the judge on Wednesday, Dollar General agreed to pay $12,750 in back pay damages and $29,750 in compensatory damages to settle the lawsuit.

Under the settlement, the retailer will also expand its anti-discrimination and harassment policy and provide annual training on pregnancy discrimination to the store managers of the nearly two dozen locations included in the district.

Insider has contacted Dollar General for comment.