Jennifer Paviglianiti, a bartender in Centereach, New York, is fighting to stay employed at Café Royale because she is pregnant.

     Paviglianiti claims that she feared her job was in jeopardy because she was pregnant. She feared that she was being discriminated against because of her pregnancy. She was afraid of how her boss, John Doxey, would react so she waited a few months to tell him. However, he found out before she even had a chance to tell him.

     When Doxey found out about the pregnancy, Paviglianiti claimed that is when her job became threatened. Up until she had become pregnant, she said that she had been one of the club’s most popular bartenders. “I’ve bonused 9 times since August,” said Paviglianiti.

     Earlier this month, Paviglianiti filed a claim with the EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commison, because of her worries about her boss’s reaction. In order to protect herself she decided to secretly record her boss on tape. “Customers don’t wanna come in and see a pregnant woman behind the bar!” Doxey was recorded saying.

     She submitted the recordings to the EEOC with her claim. “Maybe they don’t go there because the bartender is pregnant and doesn’t look sexy”, said Doxey. Attorney Robin Bond said it is within Doxey’s right to say this if the employees were informed that they had to maintain a specific sexy look to qualify for the job. “I just think it’s wrong to discriminate against someone since they are pregnant and because they don’t consider them ‘sexy enough’ to work there”, said junior at North Harford High School, Kirsten Reilly.