Lang v. Star Herald
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
107 F.3d 1308 (8th Cir. 1997)
Lang (plaintiff), pregnant and on doctor-ordered leave for pregnancy-related bleeding with no estimated return date, exhausted her accrued sick leave at the Star Herald (defendant) and refused to apply for the paper's unpaid, indefinite leave-of-absence policy because it carried no guarantee of reemployment — a guarantee no other employee had ever received either. She was terminated and sued under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act on both disparate-treatment and disparate-impact theories; the district court granted the Star Herald summary judgment.
Whether an employer violates the Pregnancy Discrimination Act by refusing to apply a neutral leave policy more favorably to a pregnant employee.