Howell Ex-Vet Tech Claims She Was Fired Over Pregnancy: Lawsuit

HOWELL, NJ - A former veterinary technician at a Howell Township practice alleges that she was subject to gender-based discrimination surrounding her pregnancy before she was ultimately fired from her position, according to a lawsuit.

Carly Suchecki, 25, a Wall resident, filed a lawsuit in May against Mahmoud Hussein, the owner and veterinarian at Howell Animal Hospital LLC, as well as the office’s manager Diane Masera.

According to subsequent documents filed in court, all defendants deny they did anything wrong.

The Wall Township woman began working at the animal hospital in 2017 as a consultant before she was promoted, per the lawsuit. However, in June 2020, Suchecki’s hours became “significantly cut” at work after she told her boss that she was pregnant.

“When … Hussein made the transparently discriminatory decision to cut [Suchecki’s] hours and ultimately terminate her from her role as a veterinary technician with Defendant Howell Animal Hispital after disclosing her pregnancy, he doubled down on his bigoted paternalism, stating ‘let her go have her baby and see how she can manage motherhood and a full-time job,’” the lawsuit reads. “There is simply no other way to say it: rather than accommodate Plaintiff’s pregnancy and request for a maternity leave, the defendants surreptitiously kicked her to the curb, depriving her of her income on the eve of the birth of her child.”

Suchecki’s complaint further characterizes an environment of discrimination “on the basis of … pregnancy and gender,” allegedly substantiated by the belief that pregnant women are “too delicate and vulnerable to perform the responsibilities” that the position requires.

In fact, Masera reportedly informed the vet technician that Hussein wanted to cut her hours over concerns that she was “working too much now that you are pregnant,” the complaint reads, comments indicative of a “discriminatory belief that [Suchecki] was too delicate to work full-time as a pregnant woman.”

In a response, the defendants claim that Suchecki asked to work less hours as “she was tired from working for her other job at her family business.” They also claim that Suchecki left for a weeklong vacation during a global pandemic without informing anyone at the office or attempting to find another employee to cover her shifts. However, Suchecki’s complaint tells a very different story.

Suchecki’s lawsuit maintains that she notified the office of her vacation and indicates that Masera acknowledged the leave notice, as well as approved coverage for Suchecki’s shifts.

She was fired from her position on Dec. 29 via text message, the lawsuit reads, after being informed that Hussein was “very upset.”

The complaint alleges that Suchecki was subject to unfair employment actions following her announcement of her pregnancy, and ultimately fired because of it, while the defendants maintain that she was let go for violating company policy.

The plaintiff is seeking a trial by jury.