The Washington state Attorney General’s Office is suing the owner and operator of Kadlec Regional Medical Center for allegedly repeatedly failing to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant and nursing employees working throughout its hospitals. 

The lawsuit was filed against Renton-based Providence Health & Services in King County Superior Court on May 13, according to a release. It comes after an investigation into incidents going back to 2021 that reportedly found expectant and new mothers, many of them nurses, were routinely denied workplace accommodations and even retaliated against “at each of its facilities and affiliate facilities in Washington, including at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland,” a spokesperson for the AG told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business. 

“Taking commonsense steps to keep pregnant and nursing employees and their babies safe and healthy isn’t optional – it’s the law,” AG Nick Brown said in a statement. “A health care provider like Providence should know better.” 

In a statement provided to the Journal, Providence officials said they strive to follow all relevant federal, state and local laws, and regulations regarding pregnancy-related health needs and accommodations and take concerns regarding those efforts seriously. Representatives for the healthcare provider did have discussions with state prosecutors regarding the investigation. 

“While we attempted to have a meaningful exchange, the office refused to share meaningful information that would allow us to understand their assertions, address any individual concerns, and further refine our processes to better serve caregivers,” Providence said in its statement. 

The healthcare provider added: “We remain committed to working in good faith to reach an appropriate resolution of any issues and are disappointed by the state’s focus on litigation rather than collaborative efforts to help caregivers.” 

Under the Washington State Law Against Discrimination and Healthy Starts Act, employers must provide a variety of accommodations to pregnant and nursing workers who request them, unless doing so would impose significant difficulty or expense on the employer. Employers also are prohibited from requiring the worker to provide medical certification of the need for many accommodations.  

According to the AG’s investigation, Providence employees reportedly often waited up to a month after requesting a pregnancy accommodation without any response from the healthcare provider. During that time, they were expected to continue to work without accommodation.  

Providence also allegedly made no attempt in many cases to show that accommodating its employees would have been significantly difficult or expensive before denying the employee’s request. Additionally, it repeatedly required employees to demonstrate their need for an accommodation with a note from their treating healthcare provider, another violation of the law. 

“Some of the accommodations denied to Providence employees were bitterly ironic,” according to a statement from the AG’s office. “Thousands of pregnant patients go to Providence facilities for prenatal visits that keep them and their pregnancies safe, but Providence denied its employees the opportunity to attend their own prenatal visits.” 

The lawsuit was filed only days after Providence announced its third consecutive quarter of operating gains. The first quarter of 2026 yielded net operating income of $111 million. Much of the revenue growth came from higher patient volumes, improvements in length of stay metrics and increased productivity. 

State prosecutors are asking for any of Providence’s past or current employees who experienced pregnancy discrimination to contact the AG Office’s civil rights division by emailing [email protected] or by calling 833-660-4877.