A post-termination phone call about her FMLA request makes this one to watch
A pregnant worker says DB Schenker fired her for missing work — then called the next day asking her to drop her FMLA request.
That is the central allegation in a federal lawsuit filed on April 9 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Duran Abreu v. Schenker, Inc., Case No. 5:26-cv-02307). The case raises uncomfortable questions about how attendance policies can collide with pregnancy protections — and what happens when employers allegedly try to rewrite the narrative after the fact.
Adibeth Duran Abreu worked as an Operations Team Lead at a DB Schenker warehouse in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. According to the lawsuit, she told management about her pregnancy in late February or early March 2025. Around the same time, she began experiencing extreme nausea, vomiting, and dehydration — symptoms later diagnosed as Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a serious pregnancy-related condition.
The absences piled up. Duran Abreu says she went to the emergency room multiple times to get documentation, but the visits became too costly. Her OBGYN could not see her until April 3, 2025, despite her repeated attempts to get in sooner.
On March 21, she emailed her manager detailing her health struggles and attached a Nurse Triage Call After Visit Summary from the day before — the best medical note she could provide at the time. Five days later, on or about March 26, she emailed her manager and human resources asking to apply for FMLA. HR sent the forms that same day.
Here is where the timeline gets uncomfortable. The lawsuit alleges the company had never told Duran Abreu about her FMLA rights — she only found out through her own family. And before she could get the paperwork completed at her upcoming April 3 appointment, she was terminated.
On April 1, 2025, according to the filing, she was issued multiple disciplinary warnings — dated March 3, 26, 28, and 31 — that she says she had never seen before. She was told she had hit 10 points under the company's attendance policy, and that was it.
But the story does not end there. The very next day, Operations Supervisor Catherine DeLeon allegedly called Duran Abreu and asked her to send an email saying she no longer wanted FMLA. DeLeon reportedly left a voicemail telling her what to specifically write. The lawsuit says Duran Abreu eventually realized the company intended to use that email to claim she had resigned — even though she had already signed a termination letter the day before.
The case brings claims under Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the FMLA, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Duran Abreu is seeking compensatory, liquidated, and punitive damages, along with lost earnings and benefits. She has requested a jury trial.
DB Schenker has not yet responded, and no determination has been made on any of the claims.
For HR professionals, the takeaway is hard to miss. Attendance point systems do not pause themselves when an employee's absences are tied to a known pregnancy condition — but the law may require exactly that. And when a leave request is already on the table, terminating before it can be processed is the kind of decision that tends to look worse with time, not better.
