Photography museum Fotografiska is set to settle a lawsuit alleging managers discriminated against a pregnant employee by scolding her for sitting during work hours and bringing up her decision not to have an abortion.
Managers at the Swedish Museum’s branch in Gramercy Park, which is set to close in late September, allegedly violated New York City human rights laws and state labor laws in their shocking treatment of women from Sheepshead Bay, according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit filed in March in Manhattan Supreme Court, the former employee, who was hired in April 2022 to provide customer service, ticket sales and tours at the Park Avenue Museum, informed her supervisor that she was pregnant and intended to have an abortion about a month after starting her new position.
But the following month, she told her managers she had decided to continue with the pregnancy.
According to the lawsuit, the difficulties began after a break during a May 2022 shift when a manager “severely reprimanded” the woman for sitting down during her shift, even though she had asked permission to do so.
The suit also alleges that the manager is “overly demanding” and takes advantage of the manager’s kindness by asking the employee to sit down because other employees will comply.
According to the lawsuit, the worker initially asked to take the day off because she was feeling unwell due to her pregnancy.
The same manager then made “derogatory remarks” to the employee, telling her, “Everyone’s talking about you because of what you’re doing,” according to the lawsuit.
“Just because you had an abortion doesn’t mean you can demand special treatment. It doesn’t take that long to recover from an abortion, and yet it’s been a week and you’re still demanding special treatment,” the store manager said, according to court documents.
The next day, the employee emailed another manager, asking to schedule a meeting about her treatment, but the meeting scheduled for that same day “did not take place.”
“Due to the above circumstances, [the worker] Deeply worried, [the worker] Fotografiska’s “toilet mental breakdown” lawsuit continues.
The employee resigned within a week, according to court records.
On June 12, in a letter to the judge overseeing the case, it was announced that the parties had reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount and that paperwork was underway to “fully finalize the settlement.”
A lawyer for Fotografiska did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post, and a lawyer for the former staffer declined to comment, citing non-disclosure agreements.
News of the settlement comes just under three months before the museum is scheduled to close on Sept. 29.
Museum officials previously cited space constraints as the main reason for the closure.
The museum’s Veronica Restaurant The most beautiful restaurant The neighbouring Chapel Bar, which opened in the borough earlier this year, is also set to close.
The 130-year-old building is no stranger to drama: Notorious con artist Anna Delvey once tried to secure a lease on the building’s 45,000-square-foot space for her “Anna Delvey Foundation,” which planned to build a nightclub, hotel, German bakery, and juice bar.
