A federal lawsuit is accusing Bestbet Jacksonville of violating the rights of pregnant employees.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit argues the Arlington poker room and gaming center violated the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act by being unwilling to make reasonable work accommodations that the law requires.
“The EEOC will not hesitate to litigate cases where employers blatantly ignore federal law.” EOC’s Miami District Director, Evangeline Hawthorne, said in an April 1 release about the lawsuit, which was filed March 31 in Jacksonville’s federal court.
The Bestbet poker room in Arlington.
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Bestbet didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment made April 1.
The commission argues the business followed a strict policy requiring employees to quit if they missed two weeks of work or more and didn’t qualify for time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The agency argues the company forced one woman to quit after she asked to arrange six work shifts in January 2025 because she was following her doctor’s advice about a high-risk pregnancy. Another employee was forced to quit the following month because she asked for leave to have her baby, the commission said in a release about the lawsuit.
The company “maintained a blanket policy prohibiting reasonable accommodations,” the lawsuit argued.
Except when it would cause “undue hardship,” federal law requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers, the commission said.
“Employers must engage in an interactive dialogue with employees to find suitable accommodations, rather than simply denying the requests outright,” the release quoted Kristen Foslid, regional attorney for EEOC’s Miami district office as saying.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger but the court docket reflects nothing since the case was filed.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Bestbet Jacksonville facing lawsuit over pregnant worker rights