Complaint Review: PetsMart

I was 4 months pregnant when i was hired at Petsmart, I wasn't showing so i researched all of my legal rights and it said that i didn't have to disclose that i was pregnant, unless of course it was beyond obvious, lucky for me i didn;t get very big. But when they did find out, there wasn't anything they could do about it, and they halfway helped me out, because i was hired as a Bather and that's a really stressful position, so they would put me on cashier duty (but only so they couldnt be liable if something happened)... but of course being pregnant and standing for 8 hours straight is a strain and the managers got on to me for "leaning to much" and that i would have to have a doctor's note if I wanted to sit... it *really* irked me and was extremely disrespectful. Also with the stress of it all I'm about 90% positive working there while pregnant was what caused me to have my baby 6 weeks early. she's fine and i'm back to work, but i did feel a little put out... BUT the reason they couldn't find a reason to fire me was because i made sure i made myself a valuable employee in the short amount of time i had because i knew the cat would be out of the bag soon.. i'm very sorry they were so passive aggressive about it... but they did it in a way where you could not technically say it was mainly for the fact of being pregnant

if a doctor said it was a danger i dont think neither one of us would have put the baby in harms way. discrimination is discrimination you cant sugar coat it. we have every right to work where we please with out being discriminated against. petsmart has no right to treat her or me any differently from any other employee.

They may have done you a favor. Petsmart allows owners to bring their pets in the store, some stores have "pet hotels" and others sell small pets such as birds, rodents etc.

Pets can carry certain bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi that can cause illness if they are transmitted to humans. Humans get these animal-borne diseases when they are bitten or scratched or have contact with an animal's waste, saliva, or dander.

Toxoplasmosis is the most prevalent danger. Had you been required to clean up after an infected cat it could be possible for you to become infected. While the symptoms are generally mild for the mother the parasite can pass to the fetus resulting in severe birth defects or miscarriage.

Hamsters and other rodents can carry a virus that poses a risk to an unborn child if the mother becomes infected and reptiles can carry salmonella.

All of these could have been concerns to the management and prompted the actions which resulted in your termination.

I haven't been fired yet but they told me corporate don't want me working for petsmart in dallas cuz of me being pregnant. Which is wrong cuz pregnant people are just as equal as every other employee. So we should be treated the same. I bet if you weren't pregnant you would have your job still.

Sorry you got fired from your job, but nearly every company can fire any employee with or without cause. I can tell you here in Idaho we can fire people if we don't like their hair color. Stupid and an extreme waste of money after spending a fortune on training people, but it's still legal and allowed.

I read about a girl in Spokane who was fired from her job for moving in with her boyfriend. (The skating rink she worked at, a family place, had it written in their handbook that employees must maintain certain values, and "living in sin" was not one of those values. Talk about unfair! What happens outside of work is firing material?!?!?)

I don't know your circumstances, but I will have to believe that a company like Petsmart (who is always advertising for help here in Boise) will not fire people for taking a couple days off that were approved by management. There's got to be something else going on - perhaps your overall attendance record, perhaps your work performance, perhaps your ability/inability to work with customers and fellow employees. Whatever their reason, unless you can PROVE that 1)they knew you were pregnant and 2) they fired you because you were pregnant, and 3) that if they come up with a pretextual reason (a fake reason that sounds legitimate) for firing you and you can prove that it was pretextual, you are fighting a losing battle. Concentrate on being pregnant and healthy and on your future. There is assistance out there.