Nurse Fired For Pregnancy As COVID-19 Ravaged NYC Hospitals: Suit

NEW YORK CITY — As the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed New York hospitals and triggered citywide staff shortages, one Manhattan nurse was fired for getting pregnant, a new lawsuit contends.

Omega Augustus filed a federal suit Wednesday against New York Presbyterian Hospital for discrimination she said she faced at the Lower Manhattan Hospital from superiors who would not accommodate her pregnancy, court records show.

"[Augustus] was completely taken aback by Defendant's blatant discrimination against her," the suit states. "[She] felt extremely humiliated, degraded, victimized, embarrassed, and severely emotionally distressed."

New York Presbyterian's press office did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

Augustus was fired in April 2020, days after supplying a doctor's note asking the pregnant nurse not be asked to transfer patients alone, the suit contends.

New York City's Human Rights Law requires employers to accommodate pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical care. Workers are not required to provide doctors' notes unless requesting time off.

A supervisor informed Augustus her request could not be accommodated, her position had been terminated and her shifts canceled, according to the suit.

Augustus' pleas to work in the hospital emergency room, which would not require such strenuous physical labor, were ignored, the suit states.

"Defendants terminated Plaintiff’s employment less than a week after informing them that she was pregnant," the complaint reads. "Defendants unlawfully terminated Plaintiff on the basis of her pregnancy."

Augustus's termination came weeks after then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a nationwide plea for doctors and nurses to come to New York City hospitals overwhelmed by the pandemic.

And even as the release of COVID-19 vaccines has curbed the influx of new patients, New York City nurses say understaffing remains a serious problem that threatens the safety of hospital staff and patients.

"Unsafe staffing is a problem throughout the hospital," Diane Bonet, a pediatric nurse at New York Presbyterian's Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, said in February. "This is the worst I've seen it in 20 years."