A Mom Requested to Work From Home for Her High-Risk Pregnancy. Her Company Said No. Now It Owes $22.5 Million

The jury found Total Quality Logistics liable for the death of the employee’s infant.

BY KAYLA WEBSTER, STAFF EDITOR

Illustration: Inc; Photo: Getty Images

Chelsea Walsh’s newborn daughter died in her arms the day she was born. Recently, an Ohio jury found Walsh’s employer at fault for the baby’s death because the company denied her request to work from home due to a high-risk pregnancy. The court ordered Walsh’s employer, Cincinnati-based Total Quality Logistics, to pay $22.5 million in damages this week.

TQL is one of the largest freight-brokerage firms in North America, specializing in delivering hazardous materials, oversize loads, and shipping to Canada and Mexico. The company acts as a third-party administrator to help ship goods by truck, train, airplane, and cargo ships. The company’s website estimates it manages more than 3.9 million loads every year.

According to the lawsuit, Walsh made the work-from-home request on February 15, 2021. This was four days after Wash had surgery on her cervix to prevent going into early labor. Walsh was advised by her doctor, the lawsuit says, to ask her employer to work from home. But her employer denied the request.

“This is a heartbreaking outcome for a young family,” said one of Walsh’s lawyers, Matthew C. Metzger of Wolterman Law Office in Loveland, Ohio, in an NBC News report. “The evidence showed that Chelsea Walsh was following her doctors’ instructions for a high-risk pregnancy and simply asked to work from home.”

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“The jury found that TQL’s denial of that reasonable request led to the death of her daughter,” he said.

However, the lawsuit alleges Walsh’s employer eventually allowed her to work from home after her husband, Joel Walsh, complained to his company’s HR representative about his wife’s work situation. Her husband’s HR representative is allegedly friends with a top executive at TQL.

“Thank you,” the TQL executive said, according to the lawsuit. “You just saved us a lawsuit.”

Julia Daugherty, a spokesperson for TQL, expressed condolences to Walsh and her family for the loss, but said the company disagrees with the verdict “and the way the facts were characterized at trial.”

“We are evaluating legal options and remain committed to supporting the health and well-being of our employees,” Daugherty said.

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