An Ohio-based company that initially balked at granting a mom's request to work from home during a high-risk pregnancy has been found liable for the newborn's death and ordered on Wednesday to pay $22.5 million in damages.
Chelsea Walsh, according to her lawsuit, made the work-from-home request with Total Quality Logistics on Feb. 15, 2021, four days after undergoing an operation on her cervix to prevent her from going into early labor.
Instead, the lawsuit states, “TQL presented Walsh with an impossible choice — work at the office and put additional strain on her child, or take an unpaid leave of absence and lose the income and health insurance she needed.”
Walsh returned to the office on Feb. 22, 2021.
Walsh, according to her lawsuit, gave birth to a daughter she named Magnolia on the evening of Feb. 24, 2021, the same day her manager at TQL told her the company "had reconsidered its decision to deny her requested accommodation" and allowed her to go home and continue working.
"Magnolia had a heartbeat, was breathing, and exhibited fetal movement," the lawsuit states. "Magnolia was placed on Walsh’s chest so that Walsh could hold her. Magnolia died in Walsh’s arms approximately one hour and thirty minutes later."
Walsh was between four and five months pregnant when she gave birth, the suit states.
The jury in the wrongful death case ruled in her favor.
“This is a heartbreaking outcome for a young family,” said one of Walsh's lawyers,. Matthew C. Metzger of Wolterman Law Office in Loveland, Ohio. “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,” he said.
TQL spokesperson Julia Daugherty extended condolences to the Walsh family, but said the company disagrees with the verdict "and the way the facts were characterized at trial."
"We are evaluating legal options and remain committed to supporting the health and well-being of our employees,” said Daugherty.
Walsh was finally allowed to work from home after her husband, Joel Walsh, spoke about his wife’s plight with his company’s human resources manager, who is friends with a top executive at TQL, the suit states.
That manager, who is not named in the lawsuit, notified the TQL executive about Walsh’s situation.
“Thank you,” the TQL executive said, according to the lawsuit. “You just saved us a lawsuit.”
