Missouri College Settles Pregnant Student’s Discrimination Complaint Initiated by NWLC
The complaint alleged that Logan College violated Title IX—the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education—when the school told Kostal that its policy did not excuse absences related to pregnancy or childbirth and that she had to return to school immediately following her emergency Caesarean surgery or be penalized for any courses missed during her recovery.
Eleven days after her emergency Caesarean delivery, Kostal returned to classes—before she had fully recovered—in an effort to avoid being penalized for missing classes. In order to drive to school safely, Kostal had to stop taking her pain medications. At school she had to sit or stand for long periods of time without proper rest or medication and became extremely rundown both physically and mentally. One professor who taught two of Kostal’s masters-level classes penalized her for missing exams while she recovered from childbirth. Kostal received failing grades in those two courses, lost tuition money and fell behind in achieving her masters and doctorate degrees scheduled for Spring 2014. Before her hospitalization, Kostal had an “A” average in one of those classes and a “B” average in the other.
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