Chelsey Glasson, who used to work for Google, says she plans to file a lawsuit against the company for allegedly discriminating against her while she was pregnant.
Glasson wrote a memo earlier this month explaining why she was leaving Google after having her second baby. She alleged that her manager made inappropriate comments about pregnant women and retaliated against her after she reached out to the human resource’s department to get help.
When Glasson told her manager that she wanted to take an early maternity leave following her doctor’s advice, the manager allegedly questioned the value of bedrest.
“During one conversation with my new manager in which I reiterated an early leave and upcoming bedrest, she told me that she had just listened to an NPR segment that debunked the benefits of bedrest,” Glasson wrote. “She also shared that her doctor had ordered her to take bedrest, but that she ignored the order and worked up until the day before she delivered her son via cesarean section. My manager then emphasized in this same meeting that a management role was no longer guaranteed upon my return from maternity leave, and that she supported my interviewing for other roles at Google.”
Thousands of people at Google read Glasson’s memo before Motherboard reported it. Several employees supported her by posting memes on an internal board.
Glasson has now decided to come forward and raise funds for a legal defense against Google.
“With a goal of shedding light on pregnancy discrimination and advocating for needed public policy and other changes, I plan to move forward with legal action against Google for the blatant acts of pregnancy discrimination that I experienced,” Glasson wrote on the fundraiser page. “How I was treated by Google, while fighting a condition that was life-threatening to both me and my daughter, was one of the most difficult experiences of my life.”
Glasson seeks to raise $300,000 for her upcoming lawsuit.
For information about personal injury claims, visit Cohen & Cohen
