Federal courtroom permits ACLU being pregnant discrimination case to maneuver ahead

Diving letter:

• A federal court July 14th that the American Civil Liberties Union can bring a lawsuit against Frontier Airlines alleging the company discriminated against pregnant and breastfeeding employees. Frontier Airlines had asked the court to dismiss the case.
• In his complaint on behalf of four Frontier employees and “everyone else in a similar position” (Hodgkins et al., V. Frontier Airlines, Inc., No. 1: 19-cv-03469 (fol. 19.12.2019)), the ACLU alleged the airline violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Family and Medical Leave Act – in addition to several state laws – in its actions against pregnant and breastfeeding workers. According to the ACLU, Frontier disciplined employees during pregnancy-related absences and forced pregnant employees to take unpaid leave rather than seek ground-based work for them when they were late in the pregnancy. The company also refused to allow mothers to express breast milk while at work, the ACLU said in the lawsuit, which gave plaintiffs the choice of “continuing to breastfeed or earning a paycheck”.
• Frontier Airlines’ “Reliability Policy” was a major factor in the discrimination, as the ACLU lawsuit alleged. The policy penalized employees for absences related to pregnancy and treated those absences worse than other types of absences protected under the FMLA and Americans with Disabilities Act, the ACLU said. In response to a request for comment on the lawsuit, a Frontier Airlines representative said the company would not comment on any pending litigation.

Dive Insight:

Although discrimination related to pregnancy is prohibited below several federal laws, including the FMLA, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, discrimination against pregnant workers remains an ongoing problem.

At the beginning of June, the EEOC has filed a lawsuit An Illinois nursing home alleging that pregnant workers are required to disclose their pregnancies – an allegation the ACLU also made against Frontier Airlines in the aforementioned lawsuit – and that pregnant workers are required to obtain medical certificates that they could work without restriction, even if they hadn’t asked for accommodation. Recently an employee of the New York City Economic Development Corporation sued her employer for refusing to provide maternity-related placement requested, for “resisting” being granted maternity leave, and for taking revenge on their requests with a negative performance review.

Pregnancy discrimination tends to be more acute than other types of discrimination, an expert recently said HR Dive; While gender and racial discrimination tend to be prolonged, pregnancy discrimination is more of a targeted response, often at the time of disclosure or shortly thereafter. A Report from the Center for Employment Justice on Pregnancy Discrimination in the Workplace, found that pregnancy discrimination is more prevalent in male-dominated areas as well, and that more female managers can be a helpful factor in reducing this discrimination.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act passed by the House of Representatives in May contains particularly clear standards on how employers should accommodate pregnant workers. an expert said HR Dive. However, employers do not have to rely on legal texts to care for and accommodate their pregnant workers; Well-treated pregnant workers are more likely to stay in their jobs well beyond pregnancy, reducing turnover and recruitment problems for employers and contributing to better understanding and a positive workplace culture.