Denver-based Frontier Airlines will settle a lawsuit with five Colorado pilots who alleged the airline discriminated against them while they were pregnant and breastfeeding.
Under the settlement announced this week, the airline will allow pilots to pump breastmilk in the cockpit during noncritical phases of the flight, and will update other company policies that impact breastfeeding and lactating employees.
Frontier is one of the first airlines to permit pilots to pump breastmilk in the cockpit during flights, according to the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed charges against the airline in May 2018.
An attorney for the EEOC said she hopes the policy changes serve as a model for employers to accommodate pregnant and lactating employers.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2019 and by settling the suit, Frontier does not admit any liability, EEOC said.
Aditi Fruitwala, a staff attorney for the ACLU who represented the pilots, said the organization is proud to reach an agreement that will benefit pregnant workers now and in the future.
“This settlement should serve as a strong message to employers — especially airline employers — that reasonable accommodations such as those agreed to by Frontier Airlines are good for workers, good for families, good for business, and required by the law,” Fruitwala said. “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, filed in December 2019, accused Frontier of enforcing policies that penalized them for absences during their pregnancies and forced pilots and flight attendants onto unpaid leave at the end of their pregnancies with no alternative.
According to the lawsuit, Frontier banned employees from pumping while on duty and the pilots alleged they lost income and other benefits from being forced into unpaid leave. Many who returned to work and tried to continue breastfeeding without accommodations suffered from pain and other serious issues and some felt they had no choice but to give up breastfeeding altogether.
The airline settled the discrimination lawsuit filed by the flight attendants in April 2022.
Frontier’s vice president for labor relations, Jacalyn Peter, said in a statement that the airline was pleased “to be at the forefront of accommodating the needs of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in the airline industry.”
“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 said.
The pilots were also represented by New York-based law firm Holwell Shuster & Goldberg and Denver-based nonprofit Towards Justice. An attorney with EEOC declined Tuesday to provide a copy of the settlement agreement.