Axed La Petite Academy Director Gets Pregnancy, Leave Bias Trial

La Petite Academy Inc. may have violated pregnancy and family and medical leave laws when it fired the director of its Aurora, Ill., facility after she returned from maternity leave, the Northern District of Illinois ruled.

The company said Catherine Rayford was terminated because several potentially serious violations came to light after the director of a nearby academy stepped in for Rayford while she was out.

They included over-enrolled infant classrooms, children bringing in food from the outside, employees transporting children without proper authorization, and a worker employee never being charged for sending her child to the Aurora facility.

But ...