Game Show Models Claim Pregnancy Discrimination

August 10, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Two former "The Price is Right" models have filed lawsuits against the show claiming pregnancy discrimination.

All Headline News reports that in the most recent suit, filed last week, Shane Stirling claims former host Bob Barker forced her out.  

According to the news report, the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges Stirling was forced into an early emergency leave after she announced she was pregnant in December 2006. The model says when Barker learned of her pregnancy, he insisted that she shouldn’t work because it was “dangerous” and a “liability.”  

Stirling said she was finally allowed to return to the show in 2008 after Barker stopped hosting, but was told that the show was “going in another direction” and was subsequently fired. She claims that if she had been allowed to return to work sooner after having her baby, she could have “become acquainted with the new people working on the game show and thereby would have had a better chance to retain her job,” according to the lawsuit.  

Stirling is seeking more than $25,000.  

AHN also reports that in March, former model Brandi Cochran also sued, claiming the show was cruel to staff who became pregnant. Cochran says when she became pregnant in 2007, she decided to keep it a secret in fear of getting fired, and the stress was so severe that her pregnancy ended in miscarriage.  

The news report said she became pregnant again the following year, but she was eventually released from her job.

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