Beauty Counter Employee Who Says She Was Fired Over Pregnancy Files Suit

Dolce & Gabbana — which had a runway show during Milan Fashion Week 2015 that featured pregnant models and models carrying babies — is now being sued by a mom who says she was fired by the company for being pregnant. (Photo: Venturelli/WireImage)

A former makeup counter employee filed a lawsuit against Proctor & Gamble this week, accusing the company of firing her because she was pregnant, which would violate sex and pregnancy discrimination laws.

Tiffany Kantrowitz worked at the Dolce & Gabbana makeup counter at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City for about two years. (P&G Prestige operates the beauty business side of Dolce & Gabbana.) According to the lawsuit, which was filed on April 15, Kantrowitz says that after she became pregnant in October 2014, she began suffering “extreme nausea, dizziness, severe fatigue, and chronic headaches.”

Related: How Natural Hair Got This Woman Fired

She asked for an accommodation — namely, to be allowed to sit down for a few minutes every few hours while she worked. Kantrowitz shared two doctors’ notes with the human resources department that stated she wasn’t able to stand for long periods of time. As an accommodation, the company allegedly told Kantrowitz that she could take five- to 10-minute breaks in one of two employee lounges located on different floors. In the lawsuit, Kantrowitz argues that “the act of walking at the exact time she needed to sit due to dizziness or extreme fatigue was even more onerous than requiring her to stand.” Kantrowitz also says that one of her supervisors remarked, “Pregnancy is not part of the uniform.”

Eventually, the company fired her, saying she had Dolce & Gabbana makeup testers in her possession. Kantrowitz says that other employees also kept the testers in plastic bags at work because they were required to wear Dolce & Gabbana makeup while on the job. The other employees were not disciplined or fired, according to the lawsuit. Kantrowitz claims she was discriminated against because she was pregnant.

Related: I Was Forced Out of My Job After My Maternity Leave

But P&G denies the charge. “Ms. Kantrowitz was terminated for cause following an internal investigation,” P&G told Yahoo Beauty. “P&G has been, and continues to be widely respected for our commitment to diversity and inclusion and the many programs we have in place to support working mothers.”

In fact, during Milan Fashion Week in 2015, Dolce & Gabbana had a runway show that featured pregnant models and other models carrying babies down the catwalk (as seen in the photo above).

Related: Zara Employee Accused Store of Discrimination Over Her Hairstyle

But Kantrowitz, who didn’t respond to Yahoo Beauty’s request for a comment, isn’t the first woman to accuse an employer for firing her because she was pregnant. Cynthia Terrana, a former employee of the investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald for more than six years, says she was fired less than two weeks after she told her manager that she was pregnant. Terrana — who sadly suffered a miscarriage 11 days after being fired — filed a lawsuit against her former employer in March 2015, and the case is still pending. In another discrimination case, Rosario Juarez, a former employee of AutoZone, sued the company for $185 million, saying she was demoted and then fired for being pregnant. In 2014, a federal jury agreed with Juarez, awarding her the $185 million in punitive damages, as well as $872,000 in compensatory damages.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.