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Finleyville woman sues, claims she was fired over pregnancy

By Mark Hofmann mhofmann@heraldstandard.Com 2 min read

A Washington County woman has filed a lawsuit in federal court against her former employer, claiming they fired her because she was pregnant.

On Thursday, Kristina Ploskina of Finleyville filed the lawsuit through her attorney, Christine T. Elzer, naming Citizens Bank as the defendant.

According to the suit, Ploskina worked for the bank from May 27, 2014, to July 15, 2016, with her most recent position as a branch manager at the West Mifflin branch in Allegheny County.

In January 2016, Ploskina began reporting to a regional manager, the first time telling the regional manager that she was four to six weeks pregnant.

Prior to that meeting, Ploskina never received written or verbal discipline of any kind, and received a performance review on Feb. 26, 2016, showing that she met expectations.

However, she received her first written warning on March 8, 2016, as the regional manager informed her that she heard Ploskina was not planning on returning from maternity leave, which Ploskina denied.

She received a final written warning from the regional manager on June 17, again stating she heard Ploskina was not returning to work after having her baby.

Ploskina notified the bank’s human resources as well as the bank’s “Open and Honest” line that she believed she was being discriminated because of her pregnancy and told an employee relations consultant she planned to take legal action about that, but she was fired four days later.

The suit alleges that the regional manager also fired a pregnant assistant branch manager shortly before Ploskina was fired.

Ploskina is seeking payment of back pay for compensation of lost wages and benefits, front pay in the event that reinstatement is not feasible and legal fees.

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