OLYMPIA — Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Wednesday he was suing O’Reilly Auto Parts, the car parts and accessories chain, for discriminating and retaliating against pregnant workers, alleging that at least 22 women were harmed as a result.
Ferguson is suing the company, which has 169 stores in Washington, in King County Superior Court.
“O’Reilly’s top-down practice of discrimination caused physical and emotional harm to many pregnant Washingtonians and their babies,” Ferguson said, “and in many cases, cost them their jobs.”
Accommodations for pregnancy can mean limiting how much workers lift and handle hazardous materials, and allowing sitting, resting and flexibility for bathroom breaks.
Ferguson alleges that O’Reilly has a practice of refusing such accommodations to pregnant workers and “routinely engaged in retaliation” against women who sought those modifications to their work by demoting them, threatening to fire them and forcing them to take unpaid leave or quit.
Ferguson said his office had received complaints from pregnant employees, prompting the civil rights division of his office to open a statewide investigation into O’Reilly.
The lawsuit aims to stop O’Reilly from engaging in unlawful conduct and seeks civil penalties against the company as well as damages for the pregnant workers who were harmed.
O’Reilly provided some records to the Attorney General’s Office showing that employees in Washington made at least 134 requests for pregnancy accommodations between January 2019 and February 2023. But the Missouri-based retailer has since been “unresponsive and uncooperative,” the office said.
In a statement provided by a spokesperson, O’Reilly said it “was just made aware” of the attorney general’s announcement and “is surprised with both the characterization of the facts and the filing of the complaint.”
Ferguson alleges O’Reilly’s practices violate several Washington laws, including one protecting workers against discrimination and another explicitly protecting pregnant workers, known as the Healthy Starts Act.
“Our policies and practices are designed to, and do, comply with Washington’s Healthy Starts Act and the Law Against Discrimination,” the company’s statement continued. “These policies and practices prohibit discrimination and retaliation against pregnant applicants and team members, provide for reasonable accommodation in compliance with these Acts, and prohibit retaliation for exercising their rights under them.”
Women who worked for O’Reilly described being coerced to return to work before the end of their scheduled maternity leave, being denied breaks to pump breast milk and being forced out of their jobs after asking for accommodations, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Skylar Ramsdall, who has worked at O’Reilly since 2019, believes there is “a big possibility” she could still be pregnant if she had been granted accommodations.
She found out she was expecting a baby in January. The next month, she asked managers to be transferred to another store into a lower-stress job. Her request was denied, she said. One day in April, she said, she ended up hitting herself in the stomach after lifting an object that weighed more than 50 pounds, more than twice the limit that state law imposes for pregnant workers.
She rushed to the ER.
“That was my breaking point,” she said. She was finally transferred after threatening to quit. But on June 12, her daughter was born 16 weeks premature.
The baby lived for “five beautiful days” before she died, Ramsdall said.
“If I don’t speak up, who will?” Ramsdall said. “No woman, no mother should ever go through this. I’m expected to return to work in September, and I cannot go back there.”
In 2017, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 5835, the Healthy Starts Act, which entitles pregnant workers to reasonable accommodations at work.
Washington employers have to allow modifications like flexibility, or more frequent or longer bathroom breaks, and cap items pregnant workers can lift at 17 pounds.
“Having a healthy and safe pregnancy is critical for both the baby and mother, and it’s reasonable to expect employers to accommodate that,” said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, who sponsored the Healthy Starts Act. “Women shouldn’t have to choose between being able to work and provide for their families, and having a healthy pregnancy.”
Former state Rep. Jessyn Farrell, of Seattle, said that in 2014, she was the first woman in 20 years to have a baby while serving in the Legislature. The experience informed her decision to pursue passing the Healthy Starts Act.
She said she experienced demeaning treatment, including when another lawmaker commented that as a pregnant person Farrell was “fuzzy-brained and unable to participate in a meeting.”
And Farrell had also heard stories from other women across Washington who sought accommodations at work while pregnant.
“This is important for the health of the mother, for the health of the pregnancy, and also for the ability of someone to just have a job and take care of their family,” Farrell said. “And we know that health and economic security are really important pillars to having a healthy baby and a healthy child.”
Ferguson is also claiming that O’Reilly is violating the state’s consumer protection law because it “publicly touts a commitment to safety and wellness as well as employment practices that are free from discrimination.”
A 2018 investigation by The New York Times found pregnancy discrimination was “rampant” in corporate America, even though federal law barred employers from discriminating against pregnant women.
Last year, President Joe Biden signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act into law. Similar to Washington’s law, it requires employers to provide pregnant workers with reasonable accommodations unless doing so will pose an “undue hardship” to the employer. That act went into effect June 27.
Ferguson’s office previously investigated O’Reilly for failing to provide health care benefits to same-sex spouses even though the company provided benefits to other married couples, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
After Ferguson filed a petition in March 2014 in King County Superior Court to force the company to comply, the company then changed its policy to provide the benefits to its workers across the country.
The attorney general’s civil rights division wants to hear from people who have experienced pregnancy discrimination and is asking them to email oreillylawsuit@atg.wa.gov, call 833-660-4877 and choose option 4, or submit a complaint online.
