Four Pilots Sue Airline Company For Its Policies Vs Pregnant and Breastfeeding Mums

These pilots claim that Frontier Airlines discriminates pregnant and breastfeeding mums.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado in the US filed discrimination charges saying that the airline fails to provide for the needs of its pregnant or breastfeeding employees.

Four female pilots, who have been with the company collectively for 35 years, said that their employer’s policies don’t even have a space for new mothers to pump breast milk at the airport or on the aircraft.

They also alleged that when pregnant, female pilots cannot fly any longer because they are at the final stages of their pregnancies. The company also doesn’t offer temporary work reassignments and instead, forces them to take eight to 10 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. Under the company’s current policies, female pilots are only given up to 120 days of unpaid maternity leave.

They also asserted that the company doesn’t allow them to express on a regular schedule, so, three of the women say they developed breast tissue infections from being forced to postpone pumping.

 

One of the complainants, First Officer Erin Zielinski said she had to stop nursing earlier because her milk supply dried up since she only has 15 minutes to pump in the plane bathroom in between flights. She also said she was reprimanded for pumping on the plane after her copilot complained.

“I love my job as a pilot so much, except for this issue…We don’t want future moms to have to go through this. We want a better policy for everyone going forward. There are more and more female pilots being hired, including at Frontier. We don’t want anyone to have to choose between flying and breastfeeding,” Ms Zielinski said.

The complainants also say that they received either indifference or hostility when seeking more information or support from Frontier.

Among the policies that the complainants hope to change are to give pilots an option to take a temporary assignment for them to continue working even when pregnant or breastfeeding, allow nursing mothers more unpaid parental leave after brith, identify places where a breastfeeding pilot can pump breast milk at airports that the airline company uses, and allow airports to breastfeed or pump inside the aircraft.

Source: Popsugar.com