Current:Home > InvestUS agency tasked with border security to pay $45 million over pregnancy discrimination, lawyers say -ChatGPT 說:
US agency tasked with border security to pay $45 million over pregnancy discrimination, lawyers say
View
Date:2025-04-22 07:54:38
The agency responsible for securing the country’s land and air border crossings is settling a case that alleged the agency discriminated against pregnant employees, lawyers for the employees said Tuesday.
In a news release, lawyers for Customs and Border Protection employees said they had reached a $45 million settlement in the class action that includes nearly 1,100 women. The lawyers said the settlement also includes an agreement by the agency to enact reforms to address the discriminatory practices.
The case was filed in 2016 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that there was a widespread practice by CBP to place officers and agriculture specialists on light duty when they became pregnant. The agency did not give them the opportunity to stay in their position with or without accommodations, according to the complaint.
This meant the women lost out on opportunities for overtime, Sunday or evening pay and for advancement, the complaint said. Anyone put on light duty assignments also had to give up their firearm and might have to requalify before they could get it back.
“Announcing my pregnancy to my colleagues and supervisor should have been a happy occasion — but it quickly became clear that such news was not welcome. The assumption was that I could no longer effectively do my job, just because I was pregnant,” said Roberta Gabaldon, lead plaintiff in the case, in the news release.
CBP did not respond to a request for comment. The agency had argued that it wasn’t standard policy to put pregnant women on light duty assignments and suggested that any misunderstanding of the agency’s light duty policy was limited to a handful of offices as opposed to being an agency-wide policy, according to a judge’s ruling last year certifying the case as a class action.
Gary Gilbert, President of Gilbert Employment Law, and Joseph Sellers, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, who represent the employees said there will now be a presumption that pregnant employees can do their jobs, instead of being sidelined to light duty.
The agency will have to make reasonable accommodations for them such as making sure there are uniforms available for pregnant women, the lawyers said. There will also be trainings on how the light duty policy should be implemented and a three-year period of enforcement during which the lawyers can go back to the EEOC if they hear from clients that problems are persisting.
Gilbert said the settlement doesn’t just benefit the women who are in the class action but also women who won’t face the same problems in the future when they get pregnant.
The settlement agreement still has to be finalized by a judge. The women involved in the case will get a copy of the settlement agreement and can raise objections, although the lawyers said they’d already been in touch with many of the women and were optimistic it would be accepted. A trial had been slated to begin in September.
veryGood! (565)
Related
- Mets have visions of grandeur, and a dynasty, with Juan Soto as major catalyst
- Tina Turner's Cause of Death Revealed
- Facing cancer? Here's when to consider experimental therapies, and when not to
- Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation in legal fight over water rights
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- Think the COVID threat is over? It's not for these people
- Solar Breakthrough Could Be on the Way for Renters
- Avoid mailing your checks, experts warn. Here's what's going on with the USPS.
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- As Covid-19 Surges, California Farmworkers Are Paying a High Price
Ranking
- 'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
- Trump Proposes Speedier Environmental Reviews for Highways, Pipelines, Drilling and Mining
- Kim Kardashian Reveals the Surprising Feature in a Man That's One of Her Biggest Turn Ons
- The first office for missing and murdered Black women and girls set for Minnesota
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- The 25 Best Amazon Deals to Shop Memorial Day Weekend 2023: Smart TVs, Clothes, Headphones, and More
- College Baseball Player Angel Mercado-Ocasio Dead at 19 After Field Accident
- Reese Witherspoon Debuts Her Post-Breakup Bangs With Stunning Selfie
Recommendation
Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
Trendy rooibos tea finally brings revenues to Indigenous South African farmers
Draft Airline Emission Rules are the Latest Trump Administration Effort to Change its Climate Record
What to know about the 5 passengers who were on the Titanic sub
Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
Bags of frozen fruit recalled due to possible listeria contamination
Every Time Lord Scott Disick Proved He Was Royalty
Gov. Rejects Shutdown of Great Lakes Oil Pipeline That’s Losing Its Coating