‘One pork chop! One!!’ exclaims Texas court

In 1977, Hollywood actor John Travolta’s breakout role was Tony in the movie Saturday Night Fever, set in an Italian, blue-collar Brooklyn neighborhood. Tony’s life centered on going to the disco every Saturday night. An early scene takes place at the family dinner table, where, as Tony goes for another pork chop, his unemployed father yells, “One pork chop! One!!” I thought about this movie when I read a recent case in which a Texas appeals court said essentially the same thing to a suing employee. Read on.

Employee claims pregnancy discrimination

Vanessa Quintero worked in El Paso for the state of Texas. Two weeks after being hired, she told her managers she was pregnant. The announcement allegedly didn’t go over well (think of a really unsuccessful reveal party), and she was fired three months later.

So Quintero filed a dual charge of pregnancy discrimination with both the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Texas Workforce Commission, which is standard operating procedure. After receiving a right-to-sue notice from the EEOC, she filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging violations of both Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Texas Labor Code—namely, sex and pregnancy discrimination.