By Steve Neavling
CBP has reached a $45 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit that alleged it discriminated against pregnant women.
The lawsuit, which involves nearly 1,100 women, was filed in 2016 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Associated Press reports.
Lawyers for the women claimed CBP had transferred officers and agriculture specialists to light duty when they became pregnant, regardless of their skills. As a result, they collected less money because of fewer opportunities for overtime, and they lost out on opportunities for advancement, according to the lawsuit.
“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 for comment.
The agency previously claimed that it did not typically assign light duty to pregnant women and insisted that any misinterpretation of the light duty policy was limited to certain offices, not reflective of an agency-wide standard.
