EEOC Sues Home Creations in Oklahoma for Pregnancy Discrimination

OKLAHOMA CITY - H.C. Employees, LLC doing business as Home Creations, a homebuilder operating in Oklahoma and Texas, violated federal law when it fired an employee because of her pregnancy, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Home Creations' sales director and sales manager made repeated comments reflecting bias against pregnant sales staff, cautioning female employees not to "drink the water" because women "get pregnant and leave." When Home Creations learned in the fall of 2023 that a new sales employee in the Oklahoma City area was pregnant near the end of her 90-day "introductory period," they terminated her less than two weeks later. Although Home Creations said her termination was for policy violations, including low home sales, the company previously told her she was doing a good job and it retained a male probationary sales employee with similar tenure and performance.

"Firing a worker simply because she is pregnant - or because an employer assumes she will not return after maternity leave - is illegal," said Andrea G. Baran, regional attorney for the EEOC's St. Louis District. "These assumptions are rooted in stereotypes and they have no place at work."

This alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA), which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, including pregnancy and childbirth. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. H.C. Employees, LLC d/b/a Home Creations, Case No. 5:26-cv-01630-J) in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

David S. Davis, director of the EEOC's St. Louis District, said, "Federal law protects pregnant employees from adverse actions based on pregnancy or anticipated leave, and the EEOC will continue to ensure that employers are held accountable when they punish workers for starting or growing their families."

For more information on pregnancy discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/pregnancy-discrimination .

The EEOC's St. Louis District Office has jurisdiction over discrimination charges and agency litigation in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and a portion of southern Illinois.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government's employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov .