Swedish photography museum Fotografiska is currently involved in legal proceedings following allegations of managerial discrimination against a pregnant employee. The lawsuit claims that supervisors at the Gramercy Park outpost, which is set to close its doors in late September, violated New York City human rights law and state labor law through their treatment of an employee from Sheepshead Bay.
The worker, who was hired in April 2022 to provide customer service, ticket sales, and tours at the Park Avenue museum, informed her managers about her pregnancy status and intentions to get an abortion approximately one month into her new role. However, when she later decided to continue with her pregnancy, the situation began to deteriorate.
The difficulties started in May 2022 when a manager “aggressively reprimanded” the worker for sitting during work hours, despite having previously asked for permission to sit. The manager accused the employee of taking advantage of their kindness and demanded that she stop requesting to sit down during her shifts. The worker had initially requested to sit that day due to feeling unwell from her pregnancy.
The same manager then proceeded to make “derogatory comments” about the worker, stating that everyone was talking about her because of what she was doing. In a particularly shocking moment, the manager told the worker, “Just because you had an abortion, it doesn’t mean you can ask for special treatment.” The manager added, “The recovery from an abortion doesn’t take this long, and it’s been a week, and you are still demanding special treatment.
The following day, the worker emailed another manager to schedule a meeting about her treatment. However, a meeting scheduled for that same day did not occur. The lawsuit claims that the situation caused the worker to become “deeply distressed,” leading her to undergo a mental breakdown in the bathroom of Fotografiska. The employee resigned within the week.
On June 12th, a letter was sent to the judge overseeing the case announcing that the parties had reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount of money. Paperwork to finalize the settlement is currently being processed.
Fotografiska’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post, while the former staffer’s attorney declined to comment, citing a confidentiality agreement. The news of the settlement comes less than three months before the museum is expected to shut its doors on September 29th. Museum officials previously cited space constraints as the principal reason for the closure.
