August 23, 2024
Customs and Border Protection’s settlement addresses pregnancy discrimination, policy changes and training for managers that could improve the agency’s culture.
Under an image of the Statue of Liberty, set against a waving American flag, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website describes the agency’s commitment to “nondiscrimination in the workforce.”
CBP’s self-praise includes its dedication “to preserving individual liberty, fairness and equality under the law.”
But those notions of nondiscrimination and fairness took a big hit last week with a tentative Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) legal settlement that would award $45 million to CBP employees who were discriminated against because of their pregnancies. Rather than affirming federal law, the case points to the agency’s violation of the law, specifically the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
. . .
“I don’t think there was anything malicious about this,” Joseph Sellers, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, said of the discrimination during a telephone interview. His firm and Gilbert Employment Law represented a group of more than 1,000 women who work at CBP, who will receive between about $7,000 and $100,000 each, depending on individual circumstances. Included in the $45 million for CBP employees is $9 million in attorneys’ fees.
If maliciousness didn’t play a role, there was “probably a paternalistic view about pregnancy,” he added, among supervisors who doubted the ability of pregnant employees to do the job or the safety of the fetuses when those employees were on their regular assignments.
. . .
Certainly, there are situations that could be especially hazardous for pregnant officers, such as chasing suspects. But when agency witnesses were asked what percentage of the time those situations occur, Sellers said, “they described it as a very, very small.” Furthermore, the officers work in teams, so during the few times a CBP operation could be hazardous for a pregnant officer, a colleague could take the needed action.
Read CBP Agrees to Pay $45 Million to Settle Pregnancy Discrimination Case.