An employee of experiential marketing agency BMF, had accused the organisation of cancelling her promotion when she informed them of her pregnancy and her plan to go on maternity leave.
The employee, Ashley Berg, has now amended her suit claiming that other women employees have joined her in support and have come out with instances of gender and pregnancy discrimination faced at BMF, where the leadership is dominated by men.
The amended suit that names the founding and managing partners of the company, as well as the chief operating officer, highlights several instances where laws pertaining to labour, family and medical leave have been violated.
One of the women has alleged that at the time of interview she was asked how many children she had and whether she planned to get pregnant in the near future. She said that she was later offered the job on condition that she would have to wait for at least a year before thinking of having a baby.
According to the complaint, ever since Berg filed the suit, the Company not only removed her from her private office, but has been circulating an internal statement about the case to the staff, which clearly is a way of intimidating the employees and preventing others from coming forward in support of Berg. The complaint says that it is quite clear that BMF is trying to force Berg to quit.
According to Berg’s lawyer, it is evident from the experiences of the women that BMF does not respect working mothers.
