A former General Electric Aviation employee has filed a federal workplace complaint against the Auburn plant, citing wrongful termination based on her participation in a labor organization.

Former manufacturing associate Brenyetta Talley, 31, said she worked at the Auburn plant for six years and won five awards during her employment. She claimed she made it known she was a union supporter and felt she was a “prime target.”

Talley’s job position required her to lift 50 to 60 pounds at various times throughout the day. After she told her employer that she was pregnant, she said she was denied opportunities for lighter assignments.

“When I told them that I cannot do that due to my pregnancy, it was ‘We can’t accommodate personal restrictions,’” Talley said in an interview. “It was just awful.”

Alabama has no state-specific protections against pregnancy discrimination, so employers must refer to federal guidelines. In 2022, Rep. Neil Rafferty (D-Birmingham) introduced the Alabama Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, but it did not move past committee.

Talley said the plant had light duty options, including at least one position Talley said she qualified for, where workers were able to sit down and check parts for defects. She added that she was never given a reason as to why she could not participate in light duty beyond the refusal to accommodate personal restrictions.

Talley had a job hiatus during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned to work in April 2021. From that point onward, she said, she faced unfair treatment from supervisors at the plant.

She claimed one supervisor in particular would walk up and down her manufacturing line an average of 10 times each day, unless Talley was absent.

“I couldn’t even walk off the line to go to the restroom without her timing me,” Talley said.

In the summer of 2022, she found out she was pregnant and was moved twice to different positions on the line.

“I’m vouchering time on parts I’m not even aware of, signed off on nor trained on,” Talley said, adding that she was forced to handle more than 350 parts without knowing whether they were right or wrong.

Three days after moving to her second position, which she felt unqualified for, Talley’s supervisor met her shortly after she clocked in.

“She placed her hand around my shoulder,” Talley said. “Her specific words were ‘I guess it’s pick on Bree day.”

A supervisor told her there were concerns about her being on her phone for too long. Talley said she had been on a call with her doctor. She was told she was being placed on an internal investigation, then was sent back down to work before finding out she was terminated just before 3:30 p.m.

“My termination paperwork was already typed up, I feel like, because there’s no way you can place someone on the investigation on the same day at 7:11 and conclude that investigation at 3:26,” she said. “You heard my voice when I said this is why I’m for the union and this is why I signed a union card.”

Talley filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in August.

A spokesperson for IUE-CWA wrote that GE Auburn workers began their union campaign in the spring and officially filed their petition at the National Labor Relations Board office in Birmingham in August 2022. They are waiting on the board to set an election date.

A GE spokesperson wrote in a statement to AL.com that the company does not tolerate discrimination.

“GE is proud to employ more than 230 people at our Auburn facility, where we are committed to providing and upholding equal employment opportunity for all our employees,” the spokesperson wrote. “We have zero tolerance for unlawful discrimination or retaliation of any kind, and have a strong record of working with all employees across our global facilities, regardless of representational status.”

Sarah Swetlik is a gender and politics reporter at AL.com. She is supported through a partnership with Report for America. Contribute to support the team here.