PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia elementary school teacher claims she was fired due to her maternity leave and Postpartum Depression diagnosis.
Shakirah Abdullah filed a complaint Aug. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Frederick Douglass Elementary School alleging violations of the Family Medical Leave Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, civil rights violations and violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
According to her suit, Abdullah worked as a teacher for four years at Frederick Douglass Elementary and began maternity leave in May of 2020. She claims that after the birth of her child, she was diagnosed with Postpartum Depression and returned from maternity leave in October of 2020.
Abdullah alleges that after returning to work, she faced animosity and hostility from the school's new principal Aisha Gary-Owens. Specifically, she claims she was written up for "completely pretextual reasons," treated in a rude and condescending manner, given wrong information about which class to report to and refused training on a new cyber learning curriculum.
Abdullah also claims she was not updated on new procedures and policies and was then disciplined for allegedly violating the policies. She alleges that on Nov. 17, 2020, she was abruptly terminated via Zoom in retaliation for her pregnancy and disability.
Abdullah seeks monetary relief, trial by jury and all other just relief. She is represented by Ari Karpf of Karpf & Karpf & Cercutti PC in Bensalem.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 2:21-CV-03747-CMR