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SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Monday, March 18, 2024

Ex-hotel sales director accuses company of terminating her for pregnancy

Wrongful term 01

HOUSTON – A local woman alleges she lost her job in the hospitality industry because she became pregnant.

Amanda Ducach is suing Synergy Hotels, Inc., claiming it terminated her as its Director of International Sales & Spa after it learned she was expecting.

The defendant, doing business as Pearl Hospitality, employed Ducach from July 2014 to January 2017, according to the lawsuit.

Court papers filed on Jan. 9 in the Harris County 61st District Court state that Ducach’s time with the company “took a turn for the worse” in March 2016 when she informed the respondent of her pregnancy.

“Immediately, she was met with halfhearted congratulations, followed by comments such as: ‘a mother’s place is at home, not work’ and ‘your husband makes enough money, you don’t need to work,’” the original petition says.

Ducach’s employee status reportedly changed to independent contractor, to which the complainant asserts she lost all of her benefits “at a time in her life when she needed them the most.”

The defendant fired Ducach on Jan. 21, 2017. Its purported reasoning behind the move was a sales restructuring.

“This excuse was entirely pretextual,” the suit says.

It additionally accuses of refusing to pay Ducach an agreed-upon 10 percent commission.

Consequently, she seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.

Todd Slobin and Ricardo J. Prieto of the law firm Shellist Lazarz Slobin LLP in Houston are representing the plaintiff.

Harris County 61st District Court Case No. 2018-1920

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