Did Venerable Synagogue Fire Worker for Being Pregnant at Her Wedding?
Congregation Shearith Israel on the Upper West Side, today.
The former program director of the oldest Jewish congregation in America said she was fired from her job because she was pregnant at the time of her wedding.
Lawyers for Alana Shultz said in a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday that Congregation Shearith Israel, a Spanish and Portuguese synagogue founded in 1654, fired her after learning she was pregnant at her June wedding. She was about 23 weeks pregnant when she was fired on July 21, according to the 13-page complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Courthouse News reported.
The congregation “failed miserably in their attempt to merge traditional Judaism with modern civil laws,” the lawsuit charges.
The lawsuit alleges three counts of violations of the Family Medical Leave Act and New York City and State human rights law.
“After working tirelessly at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue for the last 11 years, I am beyond saddened they’ve forced me to file this lawsuit, which I hope will help other women avoid what they did to me during what should be a time for celebration and joy,” Shultz said in a statement, the New York Post reported.
Shultz said in the lawsuit that she told her supervisor about her pregnancy as she left on her honeymoon. The supervisor told the congregation’s rabbi, Meir Soloveichik and a board member, Michael Lustig, according to the lawsuit. When she returned from her honeymoon, Shultz was told that her position was being eliminated due to restructuring, and the congregation asked her to sign a release waiving litigation and agreeing not to badmouth the synagogue in exchange for six weeks severance pay. When Shultz hired a lawyer, the congregation offered to reinstate her, the lawsuit said.
Schultz was program director at the congregation since 2004, according to the synagogue’s website. She received her Master’s degree in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
