"In the summer of 2024, a former employee of Google Canada sued the tech company for wrongful dismissal and a breach of the Ontario Human Rights Code. Sarah Lilleyman, then thirty-nine and who worked for Google Canada for around two and a half years, claimed that she had been terminated because she was pregnant; she had been fired just days after telling her bosses she was expecting."
"In its statement of defence, as reported by the National Post, Google Canada stated that the company "denies it discriminated against Lilleyman in her employment or on termination on the basis of sex, gender, or any other protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code." Furthermore, the company claimed, "Lilleyman's allegations, even if true (which are expressly denied), do not amount to a violation of the Code . . . First, 'pregnancy' is not a protected ground under the Code.""
A former Google Canada employee, Sarah Lilleyman, alleges wrongful dismissal and a breach of the Ontario Human Rights Code after being fired days after telling supervisors she was pregnant. Lilleyman worked for Google Canada for about two and a half years and was thirty-nine at the time of the alleged dismissal. Google Canada told her the termination resulted from restructuring, workforce reduction, and changing business needs, and formally denied discrimination in its statement of defence while asserting that pregnancy is not a protected ground under the Code. Provincial law, however, protects pregnancy from hiring, firing, demotion, or layoff discrimination. Lilleyman's lawyer emphasized the risk and broader importance of pursuing the claim for other women facing pregnancy discrimination.
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