BOSTON (AP) – Cynthia Papageorge claims she was fired because of her pregnancy. Her former employer? A maternity clothing retailer.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in Papageorge’s discrimination suit against Mothers Work Inc., a Philadelphia-based company with more than 1,100 stores under the names Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod, Mimi Maternity and Destination Maternity.

Papageorge was approaching her due date in October 1999 when one of the company’s vice presidents, Frank Mullay, made a surprise inspection of four stores in Papageorge’s sales district. She claims Mullay questioned whether she was capable of doing her job in her “condition” and in her “state.”

“He suggested that Ms. Papageorge’s pregnancy was interfering with her job performance,” her attorney, Mark Itzkowitz, wrote last week in a pre-trial memo.

Mullay also criticized the “housekeeping standards” in three of the four stores Papageorge supervised, and he questioned why she was taking weekends off to attend childbirth classes, according to Itzkowitz.

Days later, Mullay allegedly directed Papageorge’s supervisor, Jan Dowe, to fire her. But Dowe refused, and the head of Mothers Work’s human resources told Dowe that firing Papageorge would be illegal, according to Itzkowitz.

However, Mullay allegedly told Dowe that “there are always ways of getting around” the law, Dowe claimed in an affidavit.

Papageorge, now 45, kept her job and, while on maternity leave, gave birth to her son on Nov. 24, 1999. She returned to work, but took a medical leave of absence in May 2000 after she injured her shoulder. The following month, the company fired her.

In court papers, Mullay and Mothers Work deny that Papageorge’s pregnancy played any role in her firing. They say Papageorge’s shoulder injury wasn’t job-related and didn’t entitle her to medical leave or guarantee she could return.

The company also says Mullay wasn’t involved in the decision to fire Papageorge. Her position was one of several eliminated in a corporate restructuring, the company says in court papers.

“(Papageorge) has offered no proof whatsoever that either Mothers Work or Mr. Mullay acted in such an extreme and outrageous manner that it would shock the conscience of the community, nor has she offered any proof that she suffered severe emotional distress as a result of defendants’ conduct,” company attorney Michael F. Kraemer argued in past court papers.

Brian Lewis, another attorney for the company, did not return a call to comment on Sunday.

Dowe also sued the company after she returned from maternity leave and was fired. Dowe claims she lost her job in part because she refused to fire Papageorge and other employees.

“I told (Mullay) there were no major issues with (Papageorge’s) job performance,” Dowe said in her affidavit. “He then told me to replace Papageorge so there would be no downtime’ getting her stores up to his expectations.”

Dowe and the company settled her case for undisclosed terms.

Dowe is one of more than two dozen witnesses scheduled to testify in Papageorge’s case, which is being heard in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Papageorge, a former Massachusetts resident now living in New Hampshire, started working as a district manager for Mothers Work in 1997. She oversaw Mothers four stores in the Boston area, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Papageorge, who is seeking unspecified damages for lost income and emotional distress, was out of work until she found another job in November 2000. At Mothers Work, she was making around $60,000 a year, plus bonuses and benefits.