It’s tough being fired from a job, but it would be even worse if you got fired for something as stupid as saying “bye bye” to a customer instead of “goodbye,” wouldn’t it?
Melodee Megia, a former employee at casino in Las Vegas, says she was told she was fired for saying “bye bye” instead of “goodbye” on the phone while she was pregnant.
Megia has sued the Cosmopolitan resort and casino for pregnancy discrimination and joined a class-action lawsuit over workers’ wages, claiming employees weren’t paid for the time they had to wait for and change into their uniforms on a daily basis.
According to court records, Megia worked at the hotel from November 2010 to September 2011, when she says she was fired “based on her pregnancy.” She answered the phone when guests called for room service and occasionally helped out with room delivery, according to her lawyers.
Attorney Mark Thierman said his client was “denigrated verbally and was mistreated because of her pregnancy” while having a “behind-the-scenes” job at the hotel.
“As a matter of company policy, we do not comment on pending litigation,” said Amy Rossetti, public relations director of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas when asked for comment on the matter.
Megia says her supervisor constantly berated her because she was pregnant.
One day, the lawsuit claims, her supervisor asked, “‘So when are you having that?’ in reference to [Megia's] pregnant stomach,” and on another occasion, he told another co-worker as Megia began her shift, “That is what happens when you have sex.”
When she was eight months pregnant, the “stated reason for [her] termination was that she said ‘bye-bye’ instead of ‘goodbye’ on the telephone to a room service customer,” the lawsuit alleges. Megia is seeking unspecified damages.
“In fact, this was merely a pretext as [Megia] had been subject to harassing conduct and other pretextual discipline leading up to her termination since the time her pregnancy was learned by [the hotel],” the suit said.
In the same filing, Megia , 37, also made allegations for unpaid wages on behalf of the resort’s employees who were only able to wear their uniforms on site and had to pick up and drop off their uniforms before punching in or out for the day.
“Service workers are not protected,” Thierman said. “Nevada has a misconception that ‘right to work’ means ‘right to abuse,’ when it really means workers don’t have to join a union.”
Related articles
- Worker Fired for Saying ‘Bye Bye’? (abcnews.go.com)
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