The U.S. Court of Appeals delivers bad news Monday to Wayne State University, upholding a $848,690 award in a pregnancy discrimination case.
David Jesse of the Detroit Free Press reports:
The ruling, issued today, refused to set aside the $848,690 award issued to Tina Varlesi, who said she was the target of discrimination during a social work internship at the Salvation Army while a student, the results of which led to her being denied the chance to graduate. Varlesi has previously settled with the Salvation Army over the issues.
"There's just a complete arrogance by [Wayne State]," Deborah Gordon, Varlesi's attorney, told the Free Press. "They pay a lot of lip service to the law and not tolerating any discrimination, but at the end of the day, it's hollow. Now the taxpayers have to foot the bill."
Wayne State spokesman Matt Lockwood told the Freep the school is disappointed and reviewing the opinion.
Varlesi became pregnant and her fiancee left her, the paper says:
When she got the Salvation Army internship, where she was working with men dealing with substance abuse issues, her supervisor, a female, "addressed her obvious pregnancy immediately, ordering her not to drive after dark or in bad weather, questioning her marital status and living arrangements and announcing that though she had 'had relations' with someone, the men at the rehab 'can look but they cannot touch,'" the court ruling said.
Other students were present for this "uncomfortable conversation."
The issues grew, including having her supervisor not being a licensed social worker, something Wayne State's policies forbid. The supervisor also continued to comment on Varlesi's pregnancy. Varlesi filed a complaint with Wayne State and at a meeting about it, the supervisor said she had told Varlesi "repeatedly to stop 'rubbing her belly' and to wear looser clothing, and said that the men at the facility were being 'turned on by her pregnancy.'"
