The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleges in a lawsuit announced today that HCEmployees, LLC, a homebuilder with operations in Oklahoma and Texas, violated federal law by firing an employee because the company was pregnant.
According to the EEOC lawsuit, Home Creations’ sales director and sales manager repeatedly made comments that reflected a bias against pregnant salespeople, warning female employees not to “drink the water” because women “leave when they’re pregnant.” In the fall of 2023, Home Creations learned that a new Oklahoma City-area sales employee was pregnant toward the end of her 90-day “introduction period,” and less than two weeks later, they fired her. Although Home Creations said she was fired for policy violations, including low home sales, the company previously told her she was doing a good job and retained a male probationary sales employee with similar tenure and performance.
This alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including pregnancy and childbirth. The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma (EEOC v. HCEmployees, LLC d/b/a Home Creations, Case No. 5:26-cv-01630-J) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through the administrative mediation process.
Source: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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Oklahoma Lawsuit
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