BestBet is accused of failing to accommodate pregnant employees. This is the BestBet sign on Monument Road. | Cyd Hoskinson, Jacksonville Today
Published on April 2, 2026 at 4:23 pm
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BestBet Jacksonville is being accused of failing to offer accommodations to pregnant employees.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit pointing to incidents in January and February when, the EEOC says, two pregnant women were forced to quit their jobs.
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BestBet operates poker and gambling facilities in Jacksonville, Orange Park and St. Augustine. The EEOC did not identify which sites were involved.
BestBet President Jamie Shelton told Jacksonville Today that he had no comment on the lawsuit.
EEOC regional attorney Kristen Foslid said the company violated the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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“Federal law makes it unlawful for employers to refuse to make a reasonable accommodation for the known limitations of a pregnant worker, absent undue hardship,” Foslid said in a news release. “Employers must engage in an interactive dialogue with employees to find suitable accommodations, rather than simply denying the requests outright.”
The suit says BestBet has a strict policy that requires employees to resign if they miss two or more weeks of work, the suit said. The policy also states that those employees do not qualify for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act.
One woman with a high-risk pregnancy asked for permission to miss six shifts over 2½ weeks in January after her doctor advised it. BestBet forced her to quit, the suit says.
In February, BestBet forced another employee to resign after she requested leave to have her baby, the lawsuit says.
“In this case, multiple women requested and were denied reasonable accommodations,” EEOC’s Miami District director, Evangeline Hawthorne, said in the news release. “The EEOC will not hesitate to litigate cases where employers blatantly ignore federal law.”
