Flight attendants can press forward with mothers’ lawsuit in opposition to Frontier | Information

A class action lawsuit against Frontier Airlines continues after a federal judge denied dismissal requests from four flight attendants alleging that the Denver-based airline was discriminating against pregnant and breastfeeding employees.

Frontier said the four women lacked “standing,” which means how they were harmed by the basis of the lawsuit. Neither of them is currently pregnant, but they have been in the past and did not claim in their lawsuit that another pregnancy was imminent.

The lawsuit, filed in December 2019 in the U.S. District Court in Denver, alleges that nursing workers are not given adequate breaks and sanitary facilities to express breast milk.

Pilots and flight attendants are not allowed to fly after 32 weeks of pregnancy and are not given any alternative tasks that would make them unemployed, according to the lawsuit.

“It is high time for Frontier Airlines and the entire aviation industry to ensure that flight attendants and pilots have access to the basic, decent accommodation they need to continue working while pregnant or breastfeeding,” said American Civil Liberties Women’s Rights Project Associate Attorney Union said in a statement from the Colorado ACLU.

“Pregnancy discrimination was banned 40 years ago and there is no reason why it should happen today.”

Melissa Hodgkins, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, stated, “I love my job and it was not an easy decision to sue my employer. But no one else should have to face the choices I faced. I am encouraged that the court has recognized that our case is valid.

The suit claims that flight attendants are forced to express breast milk in “unsanitary” aircraft toilets and are not allowed to express while on duty.

Frontier is accused of violating anti-discrimination laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and state law that requires employers to provide pumping accommodation.

The lawsuits were filed by the ACLU, the ACLU of Colorado, Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP, and Towards Justice.