The chef and owner of what has been twice named Restaurant magazine’s “Best Restaurant in the World” has been hit with a lawsuit alleging pregnancy discrimination. According to the lawsuit filed last month in Napa Superior Court, and reported Thursday by the Napa Valley Register, Chef Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry restaurant prevented Vanessa Scott-Allen from transferring employment from his Per Se restaurant in NYC to his French Laundry after discovering her pregnancy. According to the Napa Valley Register, the company approved Scott-Allen’s request to move out west but following the revelation that she would soon give birth, they terminated the offer. She had already ended her lease in New York, bought a car, and made arrangements to move with her family to California. Scott-Allen claims she was specifically told the position was “no longer available” after she disclosed her pregnancy with company higher-ups.
