By Morris L. Hawk

As the issue of pregnancy discrimination heats up nationwide, the issue recently came to the forefront in the Midwest after the Ohio Supreme Court issued an important decision regarding maternity leave requirements that could affect future court cases nationwide.

In the decision from McFee v. Nursing Care Mgt. of Am., Inc, issued on June 22, the court held that an employer is not required to grant maternity leave to a pregnant employee who does not meet the minimum length of service requirement under the employer’s leave policy. The Court made clear that Ohio’s discrimination statute only requires that an employer grant leave to a pregnant employee under the same rules that apply to all of its employees.

The case involved a woman named Tiffany McFee who was employed at the Pataskala Oaks nursing home near Columbus. Like many employers, Pataskala Oaks had a leave policy that required all employees to work for a certain period of time before they were entitled to leave from work. The nursing home’s policy required that an employee work for at least a year before the employee would be eligible for leave. Read more…