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A former swim coach claims the Indiana university she worked at was rife with discrimination against women, including bullying her while pregnant and accusing her of working a “modified schedule” when she took time out of the day to pump milk.
Plaintiff April Jensen filed the lawsuit against The University of Notre Dame du Lac (UND) in an Indiana federal court Monday, alleging gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and retaliation in her employment in violation of her rights under federal law.
The lawsuit said Jensen hopes to expose how gender bias and stereotypes led to her employment being terminated in May last year.
She also points out that, while UND was founded as a religious institution, it also chooses to accept federal funds and so accepts federal prohibition against permitting gender stereotypes or pregnancy discrimination.
“If Notre Dame prefers to seek an exception to permit it to directly discriminate against women based on the outdated view that women are subservient to men or that if pregnant, need to be confined to the home or denied access to work as a professional, then Plaintiff seeks as part of her equitable relief that Notre Dame give up all access to federal funds, federal contracts or loans backed by federal money.”
Jensen is the former associate head coach of Men’s and Women’s Swimming at UND. She said, in May 2019 she told her supervisor, head coach Mike Litzinger, she was pregnant and returned to work in fall 2019 as a visibly pregnant woman.
From then, Litzinger began to make her work environment “intolerable” by icing her out and making judgmental comments about her maternity plans, Jensen says. She had planned to only take a couple of weeks off work so she could make it back for a swim meet.
Jensen says she was ignored at swim meets, criticized for her work, and had one of her teams “taken over.” She planned to induce her daughter so she could be back in time for a swim training camp, but said Litzinger was not supportive of her plan, telling her he could handle the camp himself.
Jensen says, after she gave birth, Litzinger made her obtain a return-to-work form, and that when she returned she was stripped of many of her job duties. She says she was also asked to work when she advised she had mastitis and was sick.
In a later meeting, another coach allegedly commented that Litzinger had supported Jensen by paying her full-time for working a “modified schedule,” despite the fact her absences and multiple trips to the bathroom were to pump breast milk.
Jensen says she eventually reported her concerns about discriminatory treatment to HR, but didn’t receive guidance or follow up, instead she got a Zoom meeting request from Litzinger. In that meeting she was allegedly told her contract would not be renewed, and that her termination was based on the last three years, not the past six months when she had been pregnant and given birth.
“Despite the fact that her termination was allegedly three years in the making, Coach Jensen had received no write ups or performance improvement plans regarding the alleged relationships outside of the team she failed to establish.”
She also alleges she was paid $20,325 less than a male coach with effectively the same role.
Jensen is suing under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, the Equal Pay Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
She is seeking lost wages and benefits, compensatory damages, an injunction, interest, fees, costs and a jury trial.
Meanwhile, students at 25 federally-funded Christian colleges and universities across the country say they were discriminated against at school for their sexual orientation or gender identity, breaching the constitution, a March class action lawsuit alleges.
The students are taking aim at a religious exemption built into the civil rights law Title IX that prohibits sex-based discrimination.
What do you think of UND’s alleged treatment of the coach? Let us know in the comments.
Jensen is represented by Kathleen A. DeLaney, Annavieve C. Conklin of Delaney & Delaney LLC and Thomas Newkirk, Thomas Bullock and Danya Keller of Newkirk Zwagerman, P.L.C.
The University of Notre Dame Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit is Jensen v. The University of Notre Dame du Lac, Case No. 3:21-cv-00346, in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Indiana South Bend Division.
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