Fired Catholic School Teacher Wins Pregnancy Discrimination Suit; Jury Awards $171,000

AP reports that yesterday in Cincinnati, Ohio a federal district court jury ruled in favor of Christa Dias, a former technology coordinator at two Catholic high schools who sued under Title VII claiming pregnancy discrimination after she was fired when she became pregnant through artificial insemination. The jury was faced with the question of whether her termination was based on the Archdiocese's permissible ban on premarital sex, or instead whether she was impermissibly fired because she was pregnant. (See prior posting.) The jury awarded $51,000 in back-pay, $20,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages against the Archdiocese. The jury did not find that the two schools were liable.