Associated Press (03/03/12)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which had accused HCS Medical Staffing Inc. of firing a woman who had just given birth, says the company will have to pay $148,000. The EEOC says HCS’s owner made offensive comments about the woman’s pregnancy, and then fired her because she needed to take maternity leave. A federal judge ordered HCS’s owner to pay the woman back pay plus interest, compensatory damages, and punitive damages. According to prosecutors, the owner accused the employee of using prenatal appointments as an excuse for time off, and he fired her through the mail while she was in the hospital.