A pair of ultra-wealthy Democratic donors fired their nine-months-pregnant housekeeper after she requested maternity leave, court records reveal.
Her firing, which she said violated California employment law, came after weeks of alleged retaliation and harassment by one of her employers, Laura Baxter-Simons, who, the housekeeper claimed, objected to her request for maternity leave.
Baxter-Simons is married to hedge fund tycoon Nathaniel Simons. The two are high-dollar donors to Democratic candidates—though Baxter-Simons has also donated to Republicans—and run a foundation that distributes tens of millions of dollars to left-wing groups each year.
Simons and his wife are the owners of Elan Household, LLC, a company they created to manage household expenses, including salaries and benefits for three housekeepers, at their 6,700 square-foot home in Berkeley.
Elan hired Madalyn Garcia as a cook and housekeeper in June 2010. Garcia claimed that she was a good employee who routinely earned bonuses based on performance.
That changed in April 2012, she said in her complaint, when she informed Baxter-Simons that she was pregnant and requested 12 weeks of maternity leave. Baxter-Simons was "visibly upset" at the request, according to the complaint, but agreed to provide six weeks of leave.
California law provides up to four months of paid pregnancy leave for employees of companies with five or more employees. It is not clear how large Elan’s payroll was at the time.
By July, Garcia said, she was eight months pregnant and "began to feel very tired, and on occasion, began having some contractions when climbing and descending the stairs at the Simons family home."
Garcia requested that her two days off per week be rearranged non-sequentially in order to provide her with periodic rest time. Baxter-Simons was livid, according to the complaint. She "became angry and heatedly told Garcia it was impossible, as she did not like any scheduling changes. At this point Mr. Simons intervened and asked his wife to calm down."
Garcia’s employers eventually acceded to the request. However, Baxter-Simons began treating her maliciously.
"Armed with the knowledge of Garcia’s difficulty climbing stairs," Baxter-Simons instructed Garcia to carry crates full of wine to and from the wine cellar.
Garcia’s relationship with the Simons family "deteriorated" until, on Aug. 6, 2012, an Elan representative informed her that she had been fired. Garcia says she had to go to the hospital that night as a result of stress-induced contractions.
Her complaint alleged that she "was targeted for termination because she was pregnant and exercised her legal right to take maternity leave."
Garcia also alleged violations of laws governing overtime pay. Even before she requested maternity leave, she was denied mandatory rest and lunch periods, and routinely worked more than eight hours per day without being compensated according to California labor law requirements.
The allegations were eventually settled through arbitration, pursuant to a clause in Garcia’s contract, making it difficult to know if Elan Household and its owners ever denied the charges, or how the allegations were resolved.
While the court documents are public record, arbitration proceedings are generally confidential. "Confidentiality is one of the main benefits in labor and employment arbitration—especially in a contentious dispute," according to the American Arbitration Association.
Attorneys representing both parties in the suit did not respond to requests for comment.