Fisher & Phillips, which specializes in protecting companies in labor and employment matters, finds itself the target of an employment-related grievance filed by one of its former employees. 

Alleging that she was wrongfully terminated earlier this year just days after telling her superiors she was pregnant, legal secretary Karen Eisenberg sued the firm on Aug. 29 in Los Angeles state court.

Eisenberg says in her complaint that she performed her job competently, pointing to an email she says she received March 20 from the office manager thanking her for all her hard work. “I think you are doing an amazing job, and have gotten the same feedback from other attorneys and wanted to let you know,” Eisenberg quotes the email as saying.

Less than two weeks later, according to the complaint, Eisenberg emailed the same office manager to say she was pregnant and to ask how she should go about requesting additional time off. Two business days later, on April 2, Eisenberg was told her paid time off was “being watched” and “not going unnoticed,” the suit says. On April 5, Eisenberg alleges she left work early because of a pregnancy-related illness, and received a notice of termination the next day.

Tamara Devitt, who serves as managing partner of Fisher & Phillips’s downtown Los Angeles office, where Eisenberg worked, says the allegations are unfounded and that the firm “expects to be vindicated when all of the facts come out before a court or arbitrator.”

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