A New Jersey woman who had twins by a gestational surrogate hasfiled a discrimination suit against VerizonCommunications because she was not allowed to take time off underthe company's paid maternity leave policy.

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Marybeth Walz of Red Bank said Verizon grants six to eight weeksof paid leave to women employees who become mothers through birthor adoption. Walz opted to use a surrogate because her uterus hadbeen removed after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2001.But the company refused to grant her paid leave, and insteadrequired her to use vacation and sick days when the twins were bornprematurely in November 2013, the suit said. As such, she suffersfrom a pregnancy-related disability because she is unable to becomepregnant, her suit claims.

Granting paid leave to a woman who becomes a mother throughsurrogacy allows her to bond with her child, said Gaia Bernstein, aprofessor at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark whoseareas of study include reproductive technology and the law.

"There are more and more surrogate cases. I think the mothers[who use a surrogate] should get the same benefits as a mother whois adopting or an actual mother because they are the one takingcare of the baby. The way they got the baby is irrelevant," saidBernstein.

The suit, Walz v. Verizon Business NetworkServices, accuses Verizon of sex, pregnancy and disabilitydiscrimination as well as retaliation and violation of the Familyand Medical Leave Act. It was filed in federal court in Boston inSeptember 2015, but Verizon moved to transfer the case to theDistrict of New Jersey.

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One of the boys, Thad, suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage and diedone day after birth. The other, Jude, was diagnosed with a rareform of cancer and died six months later. While she was coping withthe death of Thad, the serious illness of Jude and her owngrief-related mental disability, she received a new job assignmentthat she contended was a demotion. And shortly after Jude's death,she was terminated from her job.

Walz's eggs were fertilized with an anonymous donor's sperm andtransferred into the uterus of her sister-in-law in May 2013. Walz,her sister-in-law and her brother obtained a consent order from aNorth Carolina court, calling for Walz's name to be listed as themother on the twins' birth certificates, with no name listed forthe father. The order also severed the rights and responsibilitiesof Walz's brother and sister-and-law to the twins.

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Walz said a Verizon human resources representative suggested sheadopt the twins, to which she replied that she saw no need to adopther own children, and was instead securing her rights through aconsent order The human resources representative said "shame on youfor doing it that way," and said the company would pay $10,000 inexpenses if she adopted the children.

Verizon's handling of the case caused Walz extreme emotionaldistress and anxiety, she claims.

Lawyers for Basking Ridge-based Verizon, from Morgan, Lewis& Bockius, have moved to transfer the venue to New Jersey, andthe case has been stayed pending a ruling on venue. The companymaintains that the plaintiff, defendant and most of the witnessesare located in New Jersey and the only reason for the case to be inMassachusetts is that the plaintiff's lawyer is located there.

A Morgan Lewis attorney in Princeton, Michelle Silverman, didnot respond to a request for comment.

A Verizon spokesman, Bob Varettoni, said the company "has notyet addressed the allegations in the case, pending this change ofvenue ruling. The company will file its response in court at theappropriate time but until then it will not comment on mattersunder litigation."

Walz's lawyer, Charles Rodman of Wellesley, Massachusetts,declined to comment on the case. In 2012, his client reached aconfidential settlement in a similar case, Krill v. CubistPharmaceuticals, in the federal court for the District ofMassachusetts. In that case, the plaintiff, Kara Krill, who wasunable to become pregnant for medical reasons, sued her employerfor denying her paid maternity leave when she became the mother oftwins through a surrogate birth.