SoCal ACLU Files Suit On Behalf Of Pregnant LA, LB Dockworkers

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA -- The ACLU on Monday filed a lawsuit against a longshore union and an organization that represents shipping industry employers, alleging that they have failed to provide accommodations for pregnant longshore workers and discriminate in their promotion system.

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit names as defendants International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 13, which represents longshoremen at West Coast ports, and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents employers at the Los Angeles and Long Beach seaports.

The suit was filed on behalf of Endanicha Bragg, Tracy Plummer and Marisol Romero, three current non-union dockworkers seeking full-time jobs and union membership. They're seeking an injunction requiring the PMA to implement reasonable accommodations for pregnant and breastfeeding casual workers and for both defendants to change their policies that penalize pregnant workers for absences.

Representatives of the PMA and ILWU Local 13 could not be immediately reached for comment.

The lawsuit alleges the PMA and the ILWU violated the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act, the California Pregnancy Disability Leave Law, the California Family Rights Act and the state Unfair Competition Law.

The amount of time that casual dockworkers have to accumulate to move up to full-time positions and union membership in some cases is more than 7,000 hours, a challenging goal because work opportunities can be highly irregular for non-full-time workers, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys.

Workers who are pregnant are more vulnerable to falling behind in accumulating hours and if they refuse an assignment potentially hazardous to a pregnancy, they not only lose hours and pay, but will not have the chance to work again until their assigned work code comes up in rotation, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys.

Although clerical work and other jobs exist at the ports, the unions failed to provide pregnant casual workers with those assignments, despite state law that prohibits employers from refusing to provide reasonable accommodation for an employee for a condition related to pregnancy, the suit alleges.

The complaint also alleges that the unions refused to provide minimum lactation accommodations required by the state Labor Code for workers who want to breastfeed when they return to work after giving birth.

"Twenty years after a federal judge lifted a consent decree put in place to remedy sex discrimination, they still run the docks like women aren't even there," Gillian Thomas, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, said in a statement. "Our three clients have given the ports more than 30 years of service yet lag behind their peers in pay and seniority simply because they started families."

City News Service contributed to this report.