Although a sales employee who stated her intention “to start a family” or “to have kids” would be protected under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act due to her intent to become pregnant, her employer was justified in terminating her because of her poor work performance, an Indiana federal court rules.

Despite her argument that her supervisor had discriminated against her because she told him of her family plans, the court points out that none of the evidence shows that she was meeting expectations during the entire time she worked for the company. “Plaintiff’s claims about her work performance resemble a high school student’s lament that her grade didn’t reflect the encouraging comments her teacher gave her in person. Plaintiff would be a student who received encouragement and positive reinforcement, but routinely got Cs and Ds on her graded assignments. And her group work (here, her cluster’s sales performance), merited an F. Such a student would not be meeting expectations, and similarly plaintiff was not performing her work duties satisfactorily,” the court says, dismissing her complaint. Batchelor v. Merck & Co., Inc.