Frontier Airlines will settle a federal lawsuit filed by 5 pilots who accused the Denver-based airline of discriminating in opposition to them throughout being pregnant and whereas breastfeeding.
Through the settlement, Frontier will enable pilots to pump breastmilk within the cockpit throughout noncritical phases of a flight and can replace or adjust to present insurance policies that affect pregnant and lactating staff.
It is among the first airways to permit pilots to pump throughout flights, in response to a Monday information launch from the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Colorado, Denver-based authorized nonprofit Towards Justice and the agency Holwell Shuster & Goldberg.
Settling the lawsuit filed in December 2019 “does not admit any liability” by Frontier, in response to the information launch.
In an announcement, ACLU Center for Liberty employees lawyer Aditi Fruitwala mentioned the group is proud to come back to an settlement that may profit pregnant and lactating employees now and sooner or later.
“This settlement should serve as a strong message to employers — especially airline employers — that reasonable accommodations such as those agreed to by Frontier are good for workers, good for families, good for business and required by the law,” Fruitwala mentioned. “We’re hopeful this will inspire more change and stronger protections for workers across the airline industry.”
Two lawsuits filed by Colorado-based pilots and flight attendants in December 2019 alleged the airline’s insurance policies and practices have been discriminatory, together with forbidding ladies from pumping whereas in uniform and disciplining them for looking for breastfeeding-related lodging. All of the ladies flew out of Denver International Airport.
The lawsuits additionally alleged that Frontier pressured staff onto unpaid depart throughout their pregnancies and didn’t enable them to hunt lodging that would have stored them on the job.
According to the information launch, Frontier Airlines has agreed to:
- Comply with an present union settlement that permits pregnant pilots to fly with medical certification;
- Clarify that pilots who can not fly resulting from being pregnant or lactation can be accommodated on the identical phrases as pilots with different medical circumstances that forestall them from flying;
- Continue to permit pilots who’re breastfeeding to drop to 50 hours of flight time monthly; and
- Maintain a listing of airport lactation services that’s printed on an inner web site and up to date each six months.
The lawsuit filed by the flight attendants was settled in April 2022 beneath comparable phrases, in response to the ACLU.
In an announcement, Frontier’s Vice President of Labor Relations Jacalyn Peter mentioned the corporate is proud to be on the forefront of accommodating the wants of pregnant and breastfeeding moms within the airline business.
“Thanks in part to advances in wearable lactation technology, the parties were able to reach an amicable resolution of this case that also maintains our commitment to the highest safety standards,” Peter mentioned.
Representatives for Frontier Airlines, the ACLU and ACLU of Colorado declined to touch upon the settlement past statements included within the information launch. A duplicate of the settlement was not instantly accessible Monday night.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”