A female employee who claimed that she was terminated for taking time off from work to undergo in vitro fertilization has stated a “cognizable sex-discrimination claim” under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Seventh Circuit says, reversing a lower court dismissal of the case.

The lower court had ruled that the claimant could not prove sex discrimination because infertility was a “gender neutral condition.” The Seventh Circuit disagrees, stating: “Employees terminated for taking time off to undergo IVF—just like those terminated for taking time off to give birth or receive other pregnancy-related care—will always be women.” Thus, the employee in this case “was terminated not for the gender-neutral condition of infertility, but rather for the gender-specific quality of childbearing capacity.” Hall v. Nalco Company