A federal judge doubled the verdict awarded to an employee who was found to have been fired in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The employee, Melissa Brown, said that she was fired because she told her employers at Nutrition Management that she was pregnant.

According to Scott Murray, Nutrition Management’s Human Resources Director, Brown was not covered by the FMLA because she was a “brand new employee.” The jury disagreed, noting that Brown had worked in her position for two years before being hired on by Nutrition Management, and awarded her with $74,000 in back pay

After determining that the HR director had insufficient knowledge of the FMLA, judge Norma Shapiro added $6,600 to the fine and doubled the total amount to $161,311. She also tagged on over $145,000 in fees to Brown’s attorney, Eliot B. Platt.

Shapiro wrote in her decision, “Nutrition Management presented no evidence that it researched or had an attorney research the requirements of the FMLA, or was otherwise aware of the factors governing whether the FMLA would apply to Brown’s request for leave.”