Laurie Chadwick, mother of an eleven-year-old son and six-year-old triplets, was denied a promotion by Wellpoint, Inc. In denying the promotion, Chadwick’s supervisor explained as follows:
It was nothing you did or didn’t do. It was just that you’re going to school (one class per semester), you have the kids, and you just have a lot of your plate right now.
Chadwick filed a suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, but the trial court granted summary judgment to Wellpoint, Inc., because there had been no specific discussion of Chadwick’s gender. The First Circuit reversed the decision, noting that such a requirement would make it extremely hard to prove a sex discrimination case. For a full account of this story, click here.
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