Statement
MomsRising Praises U.S. Justice Department for Protecting Pregnant Police Officers
October 27, 2016
Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996
STATEMENT OF KRISTIN ROWE-FINKBEINER, Executive Director & CEO of MomsRising.org, On Justice Department Settlement with Florence, Kentucky Providing for Modified Duty for Pregnant Employees
On Wednesday, October 26, the US Justice Department announced it reached a deal with the city of Florence, Kentucky that revises the city’s policies to provide modified duty for pregnant employees. The deal – in the first Justice Department pregnancy discrimination case about light duty since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that pregnant women must receive reasonable accommodations at the workplace – comes after Florence police officer Lyndi Trischler was denied light duty for the duration of her pregnancy after Florence adopted a new rule that forced pregnant police officers to choose between unpaid leave (and losing their health insurance) or continued work as usual, with no accommodations, risking their health in the process.
In 2014, MomsRising worked with our partners at A Better Balance (who provided legal representation for Officer Trischler) to raise awareness of Officer Trischler’s case and to urge the Mayor of Florence to revise the city's policies to protect pregnant workers. Over 10 thousand petition signatures from MomsRising members across the country were hand-delivered to the Mayor’s office in Florence.
In reaction to the agreement, Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising.org, an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than one million moms and their families, issued the following statement:
“No woman should ever have to choose between having a healthy pregnancy and providing for her family. But unfortunately, pregnancy discrimination is a huge problem in America - with more than 6,000 cases filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission each year and thousands more unreported.
“Denying workers reasonable, medically necessary accommodations for pregnancy is not just outrageous - it also flies in the face of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission pregnancy discrimination and temporary disability guidelines, and, in this case, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. As our laws have rightly recognized, pregnancy discrimination hurts our communities and our families - causing pregnant workers to lose their paychecks and health insurance at the moment they need it most.
“We applaud the Justice Department and City of Florence for recognizing the discriminatory laws as they stood and revising them to allow hardworking police officers like Lyndi Trischler to do her job protecting her city, while being able to support and build her family.
“While October 31 marks the 38th anniversary of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, this case highlights the need for Congress to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to close loopholes in the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and ensure that no woman ever has fear that making ends meet will harm her pregnancy and health.”
.