Happy Days Children's Wear, Inc., a company that operates
three children's clothing retail stores in Brooklyn and Queens, will pay
$22,500 and furnish other relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination
lawsuit brought by the EEOC.
According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Happy Days Children's Wear fired a
female employee, who had been employed with the company for seven years,
shortly after discovering that she was pregnant. The EEOC also alleged
that the defendant's multiple and inconsistent explanations for
terminating the employee were pretextual.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The EEOC filed
its lawsuit against the company in September 2009 in U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of New York (EEOC v. M & R Children's Wear, Inc., Raquel Discount Stores, Inc. and Duav Children's Wear, Inc.
(all doing business as Happy Days Children's Wear)., case No.
09-CV-4212, E.D.N.Y.) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation
settlement through its conciliation process.
Under the five-year consent decree submitted to federal Judge John
Gleeson for approval, in addition to the monetary relief, all Happy Days
Children's Wear stores are required to comply with anti-discrimination
laws. The company must also distribute a non-discrimination policy and
complaint procedures; conduct anti-discrimination trainings for all
employees, including managers and supervisors; and post, in three
different languages, notices about discrimination laws and the lawsuit.
The company will also be subject to monitoring by the EEOC and must
submit annual reports to ensure compliance with the law.