Fired for Bye Bye: Hotel Employee Claims Pregnancy Discrimination

Fired for bye bye? Not hardly claims former Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino employee Melodee Megia, who states that the company terminated her for being pregnant. The hotel’s reasoning: Instead o...
Fired for Bye Bye: Hotel Employee Claims Pregnancy Discrimination
Written by Staff
  • Fired for bye bye? Not hardly claims former Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino employee Melodee Megia, who states that the company terminated her for being pregnant. The hotel’s reasoning: Instead of saying “goodbye” to one of the guests over the phone, she said “bye bye”. Given that they’re an upscale, four-star hotel in Las Vegas, is this sort of verbal slippage grounds for termination? Her attorneys don’t seem to think so.

    Megia, a sales associate whose duties included answering the phone for guests requesting room service, claims that, contrary to what her former employer states, she was fired for being pregnant. In fact, she was harassed and ridiculed endlessly during her employment with the company, which ran from November 2010 until August 2011. In addition to answer phones, Megia was occasionally asked to deliver items to rooms.

    According to attorneys Mark Thierman and Jason Kuller, Megia was “denigrated verbally and was mistreated because of her pregnancy.” The lawsuit states that her manager frequently made derogatory comments about her pregnancy in front of other employees. Thierman states that none of this behavior took place until the hotel learned of her condition. In addition to the pregnancy discrimination, the hotel is facing a class-action lawsuit filed by Megia on behalf of several employees for unpaid wages.

    “Service workers are not protected,” Thierman explained. “Nevada has a misconception that ‘right to work’ means ‘right to abuse,’ when it really means workers don’t have to join a union.”

    The Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino, which opened its doors in 2010, has remained tight-lipped on the subject, stating that they simply do not comment on impending lawsuits.

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