An Ohio mother has won $22.5 million after she lost her newborn baby after her employer denied her request for medical accommodations during a high-risk pregnancy.
Chelsea Walsh was having a hard pregnancy, and in early February 2021 she underwent an operation on her cervix to prevent her from going into early labor.
In a lawsuit, Walsh claimed that her employer, Total Quality Logistics (TQL), had ordered her back to work only four days after the procedure, despite advice from doctors that she needed rest.
She risked losing her insurance if she did not return, but going back to the office also risked her pregnancy.
Two weeks after the operation Walsh's child was dead. Her daughter, Magnolia, had been born at 20 weeks and six days and survived only 1.5 hours after birth.
'This is a heartbreaking outcome for a young family,' her lawyer, Matthew C Metzger, of Wolterman Law Office, said in a statement.
She had never thought her employer would deny her the accommodation, as during the pandemic, TQL allegedly readily allowed employees to work from home for two weeks if they contracted the virus, the complaint said.
'She thought that's what was going to happen,' her co-counsel Brian Butler, of The Butler Trial Firm, told Local 12.
Chelsea Walsh's pregnancy had been ruled high-risk and she was ordered to be bed-bound. She requested a work-from-home accommodation through her employer, Total Quality Logistics (TQL), who initially denied her request.
Walsh had provided her employer with the paperwork to show that her doctors had ordered the mom-to-be to undergo a modified bedrest and limit her activity, but TQL instead forced Walsh to fill out leave paperwork and return to the office just four days after her procedure, the complaint, viewed by the Daily Mail, said.
'She was in an impossible position,' Butler told Local 12.
Days after her return, she woke up in the middle of the night bleeding and doctors were unable to stop it, forcing her to give birth at nearly 21 weeks, barely over the halfway mark of a full-term pregnancy.
Walsh was able to hold her baby before she passed away peacefully, Metzger told Local 12.
But the family is devastated they will not get to have all the precious moments with Magnolia a parent should expect.
'Not hearing those precious words: "Mommy, I love you," "Daddy, I love you;" not seeing her take her first steps; not seeing her go off to kindergarten; Jacob not getting to walk her down the aisle when she gets married,' Metzger said.
On the same day Walsh's baby died, her employer had reconsidered her denied request, granting her the accommodation throughout the rest of her pregnancy.
However, the decision was only reversed after Walsh’s husband, Jacob, spoke with his HR manager, who does not work for TQL, the lawsuit said.
His manager had a friend who was an executive at TQL and reached out to them to convince them to grant the mother her request, the lawsuit said.
The executive reportedly replied: 'Thank you, you just saved us a lawsuit.'
A mere five days after giving birth to Magnolia, Walsh was expected to return to the office to work, the lawsuit said. Out of fear of losing her job, the mother returned.
She later left the job after her manager allegedly told her she 'would not succeed at TQL' if she could not 'get past TQL denying her an accommodation and losing Magnolia,' the lawsuit said.
After hearing the mother's heartbreaking story, the jury awarded her $25 million on Wednesday - five years after Magnolia's passing.
However, it found that TQL was only 90 percent at fault, meaning they were only responsible for 90 percent of the payout, resulting in a $22.5 million reward to the grieving parents.
'The evidence showed that Chelsea Walsh was following her doctors' instructions for a high-risk pregnancy and simply asked to work from home. The jury found that TQL's denial of that reasonable request led to the death of her daughter,' Metzger said.
Julia Daugherty, TQL's director of corporate communications, told the Daily Mail in a statement that the Cincinnati-based company 'disagrees with the verdict and the way the facts were characterized at trial.'
TQL, which is run by CEO Ken Oaks, told Daily Mail in a statement that the company is 'evaluating legal options' after the verdict. The company also offered the family its condolences
'We are evaluating legal options and remain committed to supporting the health and well-being of our employees.'
They also offered the family their best wishes.
'We extend our condolences to the Walsh family,' Daugherty said.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the family and their lawyers for comment.