United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Catholic Healthcare West owned Northbridge Hospital Medical Center (collectively, Northbridge) (defendants). Northbridge had a cardiac catheterization laboratory that provided fluoroscopy procedures, which involved high-intensity radiation. During fluoroscopy procedures, one worker would monitor the procedure from a separate monitoring room. The other three to four workers, including a doctor, nurse, and radiation technologist, were in the procedure room with the patient. They wore lead vests to reduce radiation exposure and radiation badges to monitor exposure. Federal regulations limited annual exposure levels. Because fetuses had heightened radiation sensitivity, the federal regulations adopted lower exposure limits for pregnant women who chose to report their pregnancies to their employers. In 1998, Northbridge adopted an internal policy that required employees to report pregnancies and prohibited pregnant employees from participating in fluoroscopy procedures. Diana Girard-Simone was a nurse on the fluoroscopy team. For each of her three pregnancies, she was assigned exclusively to the monitoring room. When Avril Betoushana, a radiology technologist on the fluoroscopy team, informed Northbridge of her pregnancy, she was transferred to a different department until her maternity leave. After Betoushana filed a sex-discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (plaintiff), the EEOC sued Northbridge, alleging that Northbridge was engaged in a pattern or practice of sex discrimination violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Northbridge argued that its policy was not discriminatory because it was motivated by good intentions and both Girard-Simone and Betoushana had allegedly requested removal from the procedure room during pregnancy. Both sides moved for summary judgment.