Pregnant Cop Denied Light Duty Sues Department
If you’re getting pregnant on your own time, is it up to your employer to provide lighter duties during your pregnancy?
In general, I think most of America (especially us mothers) would say “absolutely.” But a case in a Long Island court puts a unique twist on the age-old “is pregnancy really a disability” argument between moms and their employers.
The Suffolk County Parks Police do not provide light duty to any officer who is “injured” while off duty (in other words, limited duty is provided only for officers injured on the job). The department says that extends to female officers who get pregnant – it’s either work your regular duties or take leave during the pregnancy.They’re claiming that means they treat the sexes exactly the same.
But Tara Germain will be in court this week, claiming her civil rights were violated. As a woman, getting pregnant, she could not apply for any form of disability payments like her male counterparts, leaving her to face her pregnancy with no income coming in unless she decided to remain on full duty with the department.
Germain’s lawyers contend that the grueling duties required by her job were not appropriate for a pregnant woman, and although I’m not a police officer, I can see how running down a perp is not easily done with an eight-months-along belly. I worked up until the evening before I was induced – more than a week after my due date – and I can tell you that while being a reporter is different from being a cop, it’s another non-desk job which requires a lot of flexibility (try lying on the ground to get a good shot with a camera when you’re nine months along) and is hardly cushy. I speak from that experience when I say light duty of some sort is in order for pregnant women.
But I can’t totally blame the police department here. I blame the federal government. What do businesses do in a country where they have to keep running with the staff they have, but the government is doing nothing to provide their employees relief? The fix to problems like Germain’s doesn’t seem to be in suing the employers but in making the family medical leave act stronger – providing PAID leave for mothers, providing a funding source other than disability insurance (which not every employer carries) because pregnancy is not a disability. Employers need to play a role too; jobs should be protected (which they currently are – to a point) and pregnancy should be respected as something women do not to anger their employer but to enhance the world in general.
What do you think Babble readers? In the Germain case, who is in the right?
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Of course, when a male officer (or female too, but less likely) throws their back out or hurts their knee at home, they cover it up best they can and then get “hurt” while on the job so they can get disability or light duty.
I wonder if male officers recovering from prostate cancer surgery (which sometimes requires wearing a catheter and a bag for your urine) get light duty? You can’t exactly chase down a crook with one of those things strapped to your leg.
dhsredhead, I totally agree with what you said. I can’t believe that a comment like that would even come from another woman. But then again it’s easy for some women to make a comment like that when they don’t know how police departments work and/or they might have never experienced something as devastating as losing your job because of being pregnant. I my self was literally told by my supervisor that “you are being terminated because you can’t successfully do your job because you are pregnant.” Like I had mentioned in my previous post, I was 4 months pregnant when this happened, and I almost lost my baby because of how depressed I got when lost my job. I worked really hard not only physically but mentally to accomplish my career. And to be told something like that and loose your job, its really hard to deal with. Every single police department in the U.S. has the capability of providing light duty positions for their police officers when needed. They could work in the dispatch center, helping the public when they come in to the police station for different reasons, fingerprinting, investigations, records, clerical duties, inventory with uniforms, supplies, etc., training, resource officers whom due numerous amounts of public work like going to schools to speak to children, and the list goes on. I can list over 100 light duty positions that every department has. Like I had mentioned as well on my previous post, I know many other Police Departments that put their female officers on the desk or give them other light duty positions as soon as they find out they are pregnant. If these departments can do this, why can’t others. If a department like the one I worked for can give a male officer light duty after the guy falls off the stairs of his house and broke an ankle, then why deny light duty to a pregnant female officer and then terminate her employment. All I can say is that I wish I could ask these supervisors who decide to deny light duty and/or terminate a pregnant officers employment, would you do the same to your wife or daughter? I don’t think they would appreciate their wives or daughters being wrongfully terminated and left without income and medical insurance because they are pregnant. There are thousands of great police departments and agencies that give the equal rights to both their male and female officers. But unfortunately, their is still a whole lot of departments that don’t. Discrimination against females still exists and it’s really sad. So for people who make comments like that as well as for those who make decisions to discriminate females, just think about the women whom you love the most, wives, daughters, sisters, mothers. How unfair would it be.
It really bothers me that women here think that a woman should save up money in order to leave her job during pregnancy. First off, pregnancy isn’t planned for everyone. Secondly a woman is perfectly capable of doing some work during pregnancy most of the time and shouldn’t lose her job because she can’t participate in the same role as before. Women shouldn’t have to plan their careers around having children. Men don’t.
The Feminist movement has somehow come to a point that I think it actually works against us in cases like this…women fought so hard to be treated ‘just the same’…now, my generation is like ‘hey! NO, we’re not just the same, we’re different, we have different needs, we need time w/ babies and kids!’
I don’t know what the solution is..If you’re going to hire women – have something logical set up for them in the case that they (gasp) want to have a baby. Surely there are desk jobs?
I’m concerned that pregnancy being considered a legal disability may allow an employer to force the employee to take leave. Most companies pay less while you’re on any leave, so you could get your pay docked even if you’re working a relatively safe and easy desk job.
Not to sound like a jerk here, but shouldn’t a woman who’s considering a pregnancy research her job’s policy? If you know you won’t be provided with any light duty and your choices are to take leave or do the work, wouldn’t you want to save up for a bit to cover that? Or, conversely, be in the same situation as someone who broke his leg while skiing?
What she should have done is gotten pregnant while on the job.
I strongly feel that pregnancy should not be considered a disability legally – while it can permanently change a woman’s body, those effects might be considered disability, not the pregnancy itself. In many cases – though not all, I know – becoming pregnant is a choice: disabilities are not a choice. Pregnancy ends, but disabilities, generally, do not, though some have treatments available to mitigate their effects. It may be a medical condition – but that doesn’t mean it’s a disability. Lumping the two together hurts persons in both groups.
I work for a big cable company, and the second a female tech informs her sup she’s pregnant, she’s up on light duty with us in dispatch. When I was pregnant, they even excused me from the dispatch ride-out we were required to do, just in case.
I just can’t believe how things seem to be set up in the US. I’m from Ireland and you can get state maternity benefit based on social insurance payments you have made whilst working.Now it’s not much but it helps. You get this for up to 6 months for some women their employer will pay them maternity benefit. Women need this time to be with their new child and also need some time to get over the physicality of giving birth etc. It seems to me that women are discriminated against on this issue in the states and that this also directly effects families. There just seems to be some prety archaic attitudes to having children in the states even when it comes down to giving birth and I think the case you speak about above is just further proof of this. I would actually like to live in the states but would rather not give birth there as in Ireland and UK there is more support and facilities for home births, birthing centres and more baby centred care in maternity hospitals.
lym1722 – thanks for your story.
I’d also like to add, that I think it is sad if you don’t go back. It’s a loss to your community. All fields need women (and diversity in general). Police officers also represent the public and shouldn’t be seen treating women this way.
Giving a woman light duty for a few months is nothing compared to loosing a skilled and trained officer who knows the job.
I am a police officer and I know how devastating it could be to not be offered light duty while pregnant. Not only was I denied light duty, but I was fired and retaliated on because of my pregnancy. When I informed my supervisor about my pregnancy, I was asked if I was going to keep my child, then told that there was no light duty so I would have to work the road while pregnant. Working the road meant, working in the hot 100 degrees summer weather, wearing black hot uniform and carrying a 26 pound duty belt. Not to mention that I was the only officer left to deal with more than 1,000 people in a beach full of alcohol consumption. I was treated like I was worthless and talked down to. So when I finally decided to complain about it, I got fired. Not all Police Departments work like this, I know many departments who put their women officers on the desk as soon as they find out they are pregnant. But unfortunately, this is a career that there is still a lot of men who look at women as pieces of meat and feel that they don’t belong in this line of work. So I was left without a paycheck and no medical insurance. I was 5 months when I got fired. This ordeal caused me so much stress and I got so depressed, that I got really sick and could have lost my child. I had worked really hard to get to where I was and was proud of my career. Now my baby is 4 months and I am so happy that I don’t care If I ever go back to being a police officer. I rather spend my day changing diapers and looking at my beautiful daughter smile, than spend one minute with coworkers who are so angry and bitter and see woman as nothing more than a child bearer. And If i ever do go back to work, I’ll make sure I choose a better department that is family oriented.
I think either way it is ridiculous, don’t they have a desk job they can put her on until she has the baby, and then when she comes back from, what should be, a paid maternity leave, she can resume her job in the field. that just seems to make much more sense. I don’t even see how she could do her regular job being pregnant… I mean do they make stretchy police pants, and shirts that have room for a growing belly?
I wonder if she knew this going in – if she knew when she joined the force that this would happen that might change my opinion. but I am waffle-ing on this one too
I don’t think that pregnancy is a disabilty but it does come with limitations. I can see both sides have a point but somthing should be done. Women should get paid maternity leave for at least six weeks. Something definetly needs to be done here! Hopefully this case brings attention to a big problem!
I know I’m in the minority but I actually do think pregnancy is a medical condition. Pregnancy has so many possible dangerous side effects it puts a package of birth control pills to shame (seriously, read that list sometime). It is a temporary condition, and to get through it safely everyone reccomends regular doctor visits. It is odd that the police don’t offer light duty, since most government jobs have great benefits. Also, there is no way they would let her chase down perps with a 8 month pregnant belly even if she wanted to – so essentially they are forcing her to take unpaid leave.