Seems simple, right? Generally speaking, pregnant employees are not presumed unqualified for their jobs on the basis of their pregnancy and no employer should have a policy mandating that their tasks be reduced.

In a class action employment lawsuit filed in 2016 at the Equal Opportunity Commission invoking the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, more than 1,000 women alleged that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, had a widespread practice of automatically placing female officers and agriculture specialists on light duty when they became pregnant. Consequently, these workers lost out on overtime opportunities, trainings, and promotion opportunities. Those placed on light duty assignments had to give up their firearm and were required to requalify before reissuance. Needless to say, announcing one’s pregnancy at the CBP became a career-killer. The CBP argued that it was not standard policy to place pregnant employees on light duty assignments, and it was a misunderstanding limited to a handful of offices.  

With a trial scheduled to start in September 2024, the lawyers negotiated a $45 million monetary settlement<a id="footnote1-ref"href="#footnote1">^*</a> including new policies presuming that pregnant officers and agricultural specialists can continue to serve in their current positions. Other reasonable accommodations include making uniforms available for pregnant workers and training leadership how to go about implementing a light duty policy. The CBP employs nearly 7,000 women as law enforcement officers.

Federal law states that employees cannot be fired, rejected for a job or promotion, given lesser assignments or forced to take leave if they are pregnant, expecting to become pregnant or have a pregnancy-related medical condition.

If you have questions about workplace accommodations, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the 2023 Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, reach out to an RKW employment attorney.

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<div id="footnote1" style="    color: var(--midnight-blue);    text-align: justify;    margin-top: 12px;    font-family: Arial, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 26px;">*The settlement agreement has to be finalized by a judge and the plaintiffs can still raise objections, but lawyers are optimistic that the terms will be accepted. <a href="#footnote1-ref" aria-label="Return to footnote 1 referring content."> ↵ </a></div>

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