A class complaint alleging that U.S. Customs and Border Protection — an agency of the Department of Homeland Security — discriminated against pregnant employees may proceed, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in an Aug. 30 decision.
The complaint stems from 2016, when an agriculture specialist at CBP’s El Paso, Texas, field office filed individual and class complaints alleging discrimination. The employee claimed management refused to return her to her position and maintained a hostile work environment after she became pregnant.
In one instance, the employee alleged she was required to obtain a doctor’s note stating that she needed to be placed on light duty. In another, she alleged she was placed on an overnight shift and required to work more than 40 hours per week against her medical restrictions.
A second member of the class, who held a CBP officer position, joined the complaint in 2022. The class alleged CBP removed pregnant employees from their work assignments and reassigned them because they were pregnant without assessing whether they could continue to perform the essential functions of their prior roles, with or without an accommodation.
Later, an EEOC administrative law judge found that the employees “submitted probative evidence” that CBP “subjected pregnant employees to a policy that distinguished pregnancy from other short-term impairments and involuntarily placed them on temporary light duty based on pregnancy, without regard to whether they could perform the essential functions of their positions.”
The judge issued a decision to certify the class in April, and CBP appealed.
EEOC held that the judge correctly determined that the class of employees met the numerosity, commonality and typicality requirements for class certification. It remanded the class complaint for further processing.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination against employees on the basis of pregnancy or related medical conditions, including attempts to give such workers lesser assignments because they are pregnant, according to EEOC guidance.
Additionally, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, passed by Congress in 2022, requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to workers who have limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions unless such accommodations would pose an undue hardship.
