The most perplexing line in the latest 'Price Is Right' pregnancy discrimination lawsuit
Tue Aug 10, 2010 @ 05:51AM PSTBy Matthew Belloni
Alas, another "Price Is Right" model has sued CBS and producer FremantleMedia for discrimination based on getting pregnant. Here's the complaint. Shane Stirling joins Brandi Cochran in the sorority of recently litigious Barker's Beauties (in its nearly four decades on the air, "Price" has showcased almost as many lawsuits as brand new cars).
Stirling, who joined the show in 2002, claims then-host Bob Barker was friendly toward her until she got pregnant, after which she allegedly was told to "go home and take care of your baby." She gave birth in 2007 but she says she wasn't allowed to return to the show until 2008.
Stirling must now claim that Barker didn't want her after she gave birth and had her booted her from the show, right?
Actually, no. Part of Stirling's complaint is a somewhat perplexing argument that she was forced to take so much time off that when she returned, Barker (one of the guys who supposedly asked her to take time off) was gone and replaced by Drew Carey and several new people. Producer Kathy Greco then allegedly told Stirling that the show was going in a different direction. How is this pregnancy discrimination?
"[I]f 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 of retaining her job," the lawsuit argues.