Milwaukee medical staffing company to pay $148,000

MILWAUKEE -- A federal judge ordered a Milwaukee medical staffing company to pay
$148,000 to settle a pregnancy discrimination case filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The EEOC’s suit charged that the owner of HCS Medical Staffing, Inc. discriminated against Roxy Leger, the company’s bookkeeper, in violation of federal law, when he made offensive comments about her pregnancy and fired her because she needed to take maternity leave following the birth of her son.

After HCS failed to respond to a court order to retain an attorney, the court entered a default judgment against the company on Feb. 17, 2012. The court ordered the employer to pay Roxy Leger back pay plus pre-judgment interest in the sum of $48,340; compensatory damages in the sum of $50,000; and punitive damages amounting to $50,000; totaling $148,340 in damages against HCS Medical Staffing.

Judge J.P. Stadtmueller found that the “circumstances leading up to HCS's discriminatory
termination of Leger were inherently humiliating and caused Leger substantial emotional distress. The circumstances surrounding Leger's notification of termination were equally degrading.”

The judge found that HCS's owner, Charles Sisson, referred to Leger's pregnancy as a joke; insisted that maternity leave should last no more than a couple of days; suggested that Leger's prenatal appointments were a ruse for additional time off or for money; and gave Leger an offensive graphic diagram of a machine which would allegedly allow Leger to return from her maternity leave sooner. With no prior warning or discipline, HCS terminated Leger's employment and health insurance while she was still in the hospital recovering from a Caesarean section. Leger learned of her termination days later by certified mail.

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws against employment discrimination.
Further information is available at eeoc.gov.