Childbirth Discrimination Case Settled

In August we blogged about the Title IX complaint Brandi Kostl filed with the Department of Education after she failed two classes because her college, Logan College of Chiropractic, refused to allow her to make up the 11 days of schoolwork she missed because of an emergency Cesarean delivery.  This week, Inside Higher Ed reports a settlement in the case, under which the college will remove Kostl's failing grades from her record and allow her to re-take the classes at no cost.  She will also receive a tuition refund for the semester affected by Logan's discrimination.  

Logan has also agreed to update its policy to ensure that faculty do not penalize students who must miss classes due to pregnancy or childbirth. Faculty must either allow students to make up missed work, or to provide the opportunity to withdraw from the course with no financial penalty.

Pregnancy discrimination in colleges and universities is a common problem, according to lawyers and scholars interviewed by Insider Higher Ed.  Earlier this year, a complaint similar to Kostl's against the Borough of Manhattan Community College also resulted in a student-friendly settlement.  The National Women's Law Center represented the plaintiffs in both cases.

Student Denied Leave for Childbirth Files Complaint Against College

A student at Logan College of Chiropractic/University Programs in Missouri has filed a complaint against the school, alleging that it violated Title IX when it refused to recognize childbirth as an excused absence.  Brandi Kostl emailed her dean from the hospital about anticipated upcoming absences as she was about to undergo an emergency Cesarean section. The dean replied with reference to the college and faculty member's attendance policies, under which childbirth is not excused.  As a result, Kostl returned to school after 11 days, before she was fully healed, in order to minimize the academic penalty against her.  Even still, she ended up receiving an F in two classes. 

Kostl and her attorneys at the National Women's Law Center argue that the college's failure to accommodate her absence for childbirth violates the Department of Education's Title IX regulations, specifically, 34 C.F.R. 106.40(b)(5), which provides:

 a recipient shall treat ...childbirth as a justification for a leave of absence for so long a period as is deemed medically necessary by the student’s physician, at the conclusion of which the student shall be reinstated to the status which she held when the leave began.

NWLC filed a similar complaint earlier this year on behalf of another student who had a similar experience at a CUNY school.  That complaint resulted in a settlement favorable to the student.