Frontier Class Action Says Airline Discriminates Against Pregnant Pilots, Attendants

A Frontier Airlines class action lawsuit alleges that the airline treats employees who are pregnant or nursing unfairly.

The lead plaintiffs include pilots and flight attendants who say that they are unfairly discriminated against under several Frontier policies.

They say in two separate lawsuits, one for pilots and one for flight attendants, that the unfair policies cause them to suffer financial and career penalties – simply because they have children.

According to the Frontier Airlines class action lawsuit, the following airline policies lead to unfair treatment of nursing or pregnant employees:

• Both pilots and flight attendants are barred from flying at 32 weeks pregnant and are not provided alternative duties, putting them out of work while they are still able.
• Employees who are nursing are not provided adequate breaks and sanitary locations to express breast milk.

The employees say that by forcing them to stop working at 32 weeks, potentially eight or more weeks before they have their babies, their parental leave period after they give birth is cut short.

Frontier airline employees are still nursing newborns when they are required to return to work, but at that time, they are allegedly not provided proper facilities to pump to be able to continue nursing.

Breast feeding accommodations, under federal employment law, often require employers to provide reasonable breaks and spaces for nursing parents to express breast milk throughout the day.

This is because lactating mothers must continue to produce and express milk throughout the day when their baby would usually feed to keep up their supply.

“Frontier forced them onto unpaid leave at a certain point during their pregnancies, with no possibility of receiving any accommodations that would have enabled them to continue working, depriving them of critical income when they needed it the most,” states the Frontier lawsuit filed on behalf of the airline pilots.

“As Frontier offered no paid parental leave and only a short unpaid leave following childbirth, Plaintiffs were all still breastfeeding their newborns when it came time for them to return to work. Yet Frontier refused to make it possible for them to pump breast milk on the job, which they needed to do to be able to continue nursing. This left Plaintiffs with the Hobson’s choice of continuing to breastfeed or continuing to earn a paycheck.”

The Frontier class action lawsuit charges the airline with violating the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Enacted 40 years ago, the Act gives employees the right to keep their jobs during and after pregnancy.

The flight attendants are seeking to represent other flight attendants who suffered discrimination under Frontier’s employment policies while pregnant or breastfeeding. The pilots have lodged a lawsuit individually.

Frontier has been hit with several other class action lawsuits recently, including one over alleged toxic cabin air and another due to flight delays.

Have you suffered discrimination at your place of work because you were pregnant or nursing? Tell us your story in the comments below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Sara Neel, Mark Silverstein and Galen Sherwin of the American Civil Liberties Union and Jayme Jonat, Vincent Levy and Lani Perlman of Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP.

The Frontier Flight Attendant Class Action Lawsuit is Melissa Hodgkins, et al. v. Frontier Airlines Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-03469, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. The Frontier Pilot Lawsuit is Randi Freyer, et al. v. Frontier Airlines Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-03468, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

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