Ohio firm must pay $22.5 million to mom whose baby died after she was denied work-from-home

An Ohio-based company that initially balked at granting a mom's request to work from home during a high-risk pregnancy has been found liable for the newborn's death and ordered on Wednesday to pay $22.5 million in damages

An Ohio-based company that initially balked at granting a mom's request to work from home during a high-risk pregnancy has been found liable for the newborn's death and ordered on Wednesday to pay $22.5 million in damages.

Chelsea Walsh, according to her lawsuit, made the work-from-home request with Total Quality Logistics on Feb. 15, 2021, four days after undergoing an operation on her cervix to prevent her from going into early labor.

Instead, the lawsuit states, “TQL presented Walsh with an impossible choice — work at the office and put additional strain on her child, or take an unpaid leave of absence and lose the income and health insurance she needed.”

Walsh returned to the office on Feb. 22, 2021.

Walsh, according to her lawsuit, gave birth to a daughter she named Magnolia on the evening of Feb. 24, 2021, the same day her manager at TQL told her the company "had reconsidered its decision to deny her requested accommodation" and allowed her to go home and continue working.