Kameisha Denton says she was fired via text message.
A newly hired woman says she was promptly fired after telling her boss she would be taking maternity leave in December.
Kameisha Denton, 19, said she was checking her schedule with Jersey Mike's Subs after recently getting a job at the sandwich shop. She informed her manager that she was pregnant and would be off four weeks when her baby arrived, she told KIRO-TV.
That's when she claims her boss texted her back, saying “Hello I am sorry to inform you but it’s not going to workout with Jersey Mikes. It’s not a good time for us to have someone who is leaving for maternity leave in several months anyways. You also failed to tell me this during our interview. Good luck to,” according to a screenshot Denton posted to her Facebook page.
Denton said she was stunned. "I was just like in shock, it took me a minute to face reality. I was like, 'This is really happening,'" she said.
So she decided to post the text on social media, where she got hundreds of responses telling her she was being discriminated against, and that it wasn't legal to be terminated because of her pregnancy.
"I knew that it wasn't OK," she said.
Tim Trieb, the franchise's owner, told the station he called Denton and apologized. The incident "should never have happened. It's our policy to treat everybody equally," he said. The manager has since resigned, Trieb said.
He offered Denton her job back, but she declined.
The young woman said she is in a much better place now, and has been flooded with employment offers. "I look at it as a blessing," she said. She also looks at it as a teaching experience for other pregnant women in the workforce. "It's OK to speak up," she said. "A lot of people think this is OK, when it's not."
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