Baldwin — Joss Bathke turned 1 year old Wednesday. It was a blessed event for his parents, Baldwin residents Joe and Leigh Anne Bathke.
But it also served as reminder of an unfinished battle.
ONE-YEAR-OLD JOSS BATHKE, LEFT, SPENDS TIME WITH HIS MOTHER, Leigh Anne Bathke, Baldwin, who has filed a lawsuit against Baker University for discrimination. She alleges that while pregnant with her son, she was fired from her university public relations job two days before she became eligible for pregnancy leave under federal law.
Leigh Anne Bathke says her former employer, Baker University, fired her because she was pregnant. Now Bathke is suing Baker in federal court, saying the school violated the law and discriminated against her. She seeks unspecified damages.
"Termination of her employment was based upon her pregnancy," Bathke's lawyer, Brendan Donelon wrote in the suit filed Jan. 7 in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.
The university's attorney, John Phillips, said the charges are not true.
"As far as we know, they are not," he said. "We know of no merit to the allegations."
Bathke declined to comment directly on the case. But in the lawsuit, she gave her version of events:
She began working for Baker's public relations office on Dec. 2, 1999. In March 2000, she was given her first job evaluation a "commendable" performance, her supervisors said.
A month later, Bathke said she was traveling with her supervisor, university spokesman John Fuller, when he asked whether she was planning to have children.
"Mr. Fuller also stated that he hated maternity leave," Donelon wrote.
Fuller, like other university officials, referred questions to Phillips.
A month later, in May 2000, Bathke learned she was pregnant. And a month after that, she received a second evaluation, this time downgraded to "satisfactory to marginal."
"She was being held to a different standard of performance after (Baker) became aware of her pregnancy," Donelon wrote. He said Baker held Bathke "to a higher standard of performance compared to employees who were not pregnant."
In late November 2000, Bathke said she was advised by her doctor to take a week off from work to relieve the effects of stress on her pregnancy. On Nov. 30, 2000 two days before her one-year anniversary with Baker, when she would've been eligible for pregnancy leave under federal law she was fired. The reason: Poor job performance.
Bathke and her lawyer don't buy that. Any poor job reviews, Donelon wrote, "were untrue, lacked credibility and were inconsistent with standards applied toward other non-pregnant employees and ... to (Bathke) prior to her pregnancy."
Phillips declined discussion of Bathke's work performance.
Bathke, a former reporter with the Journal-World, filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May. On Nov. 5, the agency issued a ruling that Bathke had the right to sue.
No hearings have been scheduled in the case.
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