Does your job have grounds to fire you over period problems? Well, according to a Georgia woman, Alisha Coleman, that’s just what happened to her. Coleman is suing her former employer for workplace discrimination after she was fired for period leaks.
According to Coleman, who worked as a 911 dispatcher at the Bobby Dodd Institute in Fort Benning, Georgia, she had a period leak on the way to the bathroom on April 22, 2016. However, even after cleaning a spot on the carpet with bleach and disinfectant, her supervisor was instructed to give her the boot. She was let go on April 26, 2016.
As for the reason provided for the layoff, Coleman was told she was being let go because she didn’t “practice high standards of personal hygiene and maintain a clean, neat appearance while on duty,” the lawsuit reads. It’s important to note, that the filing also lists two separate occasions where Coleman experienced a leak and was allegedly written up before being fired.
“I loved my job at the 911 call center because I got to help people,” Coleman, who is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia, said in a statement shared by the ACLU. “Every woman dreads getting period symptoms when they’re not expecting them, but I never thought I could be fired for it. Getting fired for an accidental period leak was humiliating. I don’t want any woman to have to go through what I did, so I’m fighting back.”