老澳门开奖结果

MONTGOMERY, Ala. 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Alabama, and Birmingham attorney Heather Leonard filed a federal court appeal in a pregnancy discrimination case on behalf of a former emergency medical technician.

Kimberlie Michelle Durham is appealing the dismissal of her claim against Rural/Metro Corporation, a nationwide provider of emergency medical and fire services in underserved areas. The company refused to temporarily reassign her to less strenuous job duties while she was pregnant. Durham alleges that Rural/Metro violated her rights under federal law because the company had a formal policy of providing such temporary reassignments to employees injured on the job but refused to extend that policy to her. The company told Durham that her only option was to take leave without pay for the next six months until her due date.

鈥淚 was so happy when I learned I was pregnant, and expected Rural/Metro to honor my doctor鈥檚 instruction to avoid heavy lifting,鈥� said Durham. 鈥淎fter all, it鈥檚 the company鈥檚 business to help take care of people and keep them healthy. But even though there were plenty of jobs available that I could have done, like dispatch, the company wouldn鈥檛 budge. Starting a family cost me my job.鈥�

Durham鈥檚 case, Durham v. Rural Metro Corporation, appeals a decision issued early last month by a federal district judge in Birmingham. 鈥淭he U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that policies like Rural/Metro鈥檚 violate the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act unless the company has a compelling reason for treating pregnant workers differently,鈥� explained Randall C. Marshall, executive director of the 老澳门开奖结果 of Alabama. 鈥淭he trial court here not only failed to apply that standard to Rural/Metro鈥檚 conduct, it found that federal law doesn鈥檛 protect against failures to accommodate pregnancy at all. Both conclusions are plainly wrong and should be reversed.鈥�

Durham had been working as an EMT for Rural/Metro for five months when she learned she was pregnant in September 2015. Her doctor directed her not to lift more than 50 pounds, a frequent requirement of Durham鈥檚 job because of the need to lift patients on stretchers. Even though the company routinely created temporary 鈥渓ight duty鈥� work for employees with occupational injuries, and even though several dispatch positions were vacant, the company refused to temporarily reassign Durham. Instead, Rural/Metro told Durham she would have to stay home without pay for the duration of her pregnancy.

鈥淭he Pregnancy Discrimination Act was passed nearly 40 years ago to assure pregnancy didn鈥檛 push women off the job, but unfortunately, that鈥檚 exactly what happened to Ms. Durham,鈥� said Gillian Thomas, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 Women鈥檚 Rights Project. 鈥淧regnant workers鈥� right to be treated on the same terms as their nonpregnant colleagues was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court as recently as 2015, but the trial judge just didn鈥檛 get it. We need the appeals court to reverse the lower court decision and make clear to that the law means what it says.鈥�

The 老澳门开奖结果 participated in the Supreme Court case, Young v. United Parcel Service, as a friend-of-the-court and has successfully litigated several cases like Durham鈥檚. They include a jury verdict against a Suffolk County, New York, police department that denied 鈥渓ight duty鈥� to pregnant officers while providing such assignments to officers injured on the job in 2006. The 老澳门开奖结果 also obtained settlements of its complaints against two Connecticut police departments for similar violations, the first in 2013 and the second just last month. In 2017, it helped secure a favorable decision from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Tuscaloosa police officer Stephanie Hicks. The court ruled that the the Pregnancy Discrimination Act obligates employers not only to accommodate workers during pregnancy, but also once they have returned to work and are breastfeeding.