Feds say Twin Cities assisted living operator harassed worker after discovering she was pregnant

An assisted living and memory care center in Inver Grove Heights unlawfully harassed and discriminated against an employee after discovering she was pregnant, federal workplace regulators say.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Tuesday sued the owners of White Pine Senior Living on behalf of an activities coordinator who faced “intolerable working conditions.”

The worker, who isn’t named in the suit, resigned in February 2022 “due to management’s campaign of harassment” and “repeated threats of termination,” the EEOC said in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.

The employer acted with “malice or with reckless indifference” to its worker’s rights, the complaint continued.

White Pine’s owner, Mendota Heights-based Comforts of Home, did not respond to requests for comment.

White Pine in Inver Grove Heights is one of seven advanced assisted living and memory care centers in the Twin Cities owned by Comforts of Home. The company owns seven more outlets in western Wisconsin.

White Pine hired the worker in question as a caregiver in April 2021 and promoted her to activities coordinator seven months later. But a day after she started her new job, a manager told her she wouldn’t be a “good fit,” the EEOC complaint said.

The reason: The manager had learned the employee was pregnant and would therefore require maternity leave, the complaint continued.

The pregnancy “was going to be a problem,” the manager remarked to the worker, who was given a choice: Return to the lower paying caregiver job or remain activities coordinator until being replaced.

The manager then began “excessively monitoring” the activities coordinator; “intensely scrutinizing” her performance; and falsely accusing her of misconduct, the EEOC complaint said.

The commission said it filed suit after conciliation efforts failed with Comforts of Home.

The EEOC wants the court to grant the former worker backpay with interest and reinstate her if possible as activities coordinator at White Pines.

The EEOC also wants the employer to cover any job relocation and job search expenses the employee incurred after leaving; certain medical expenses; and compensation for “emotional” pain, suffering and humiliation.