Deloitte Consulting LLP allegedly penalized exempt employees for taking protected pregnancy-related, parental or family leave by expecting them to achieve the same results as their peers who worked a full year, without factoring in their protected absences, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit filed April 9 in a California federal court.
Per the complaint in Barela v. Deloitte Consulting LLP, the lead plaintiff, a former senior manager with Deloitte’s human capital consulting practice in Los Angeles, claimed annual performance ratings were based on how well an employee met certain targets compared to their peers.
According to the lawsuit, these ratings allegedly didn’t take into account an employee’s absences for protected pregnancy-related or parental leave. Because of this, employees who took protected leave allegedly received lower scores than colleagues who worked the full 12 months and performed similarly as well, the lawsuit said.
In terms of compensation, annual performance scores were tied to salary increases and bonuses, so employees who were rated lower because of their protected absences consequently received lower salaries, the complaint alleged. The penalty was cumulative because yearly increases were given on top of existing pay, according to the complaint.
In December 2025, Deloitte allegedly notified the senior manager she was being terminated as part of a reduction in force. She claimed Deloitte told her the termination was based on how she performed in comparison with others.
The plaintiff also alleged that during two of the five years leading up to her termination, she took protected parental and pregnancy-related disability leave and received lower performance ratings for these years. She said she believed that based on these allegedly discriminatory ratings, Deloitte may have concluded she wasn’t ready for promotion.
According to the lawsuit, Deloitte’s performance assessment and compensation practices and policies violated the Family and Medical Leave Act by penalizing employees for requesting and using their right to FMLA leave.
The case raises a difficult FMLA issue, which the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals addressed in a 2024 ruling. In it, the court reminded employers that while the FMLA doesn’t require them to adjust their performance standards for the time an employee is actually on the job, they may be interfering with the employee’s FMLA rights if they don’t adjust their performance standards to avoid penalizing the employee for being absent during approved leave.
The Deloitte lawsuit highlights other compliance concerns that come into play when pregnancy-related issues arise.
For example, according to the complaint, Deloitte violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act by rendering ineffective an employee’s PWFA right to reasonable accommodation, such as leave, and penalized them for making use of this right.
Additionally, Deloitte’s practices allegedly amounted to sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in that “women are overrepresented in the population of workers who take parental, pregnancy and pregnancy-related leave,” the lawsuit said.
Deloitte did not respond to requests for comment by press time.