AFSCME members defend workplace protection for pregnant and postpartum COs
A correctional officer who was seven months pregnant asked to leave work after she started experiencing severe pain during her shift.
The warden and a supervisor at her facility in Abilene, Texas, told her she had to stay. The officer, who continued to suffer from extreme contraction-like pain, made repeated requests over the course of three hours to seek medical help.
After finally being allowed to leave work, the CO rushed to a nearby hospital. There, doctors began emergency surgery when they were unable to find the baby’s heartbeat.
But the baby did not survive. Hospital staff later told the CO that the baby might have lived if she had gotten there sooner.
For corrections officers who are pregnant or who have recently given birth, basic health and safety protections can mean the difference between life and death not only for them, but for their children.
But a federal judge blocked these protections from applying to Texas state employees, including thousands of AFSCME members, and an appellate court is now set to decide if workers will reclaim those rights. AFSCME has stepped up to support that effort in court.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for workers and job applicants who have limitations because of pregnancy, recent childbirth or related medical conditions.
The PWFA went into effect in June 2023—almost two years after the tragic incident in Abilene. And once it took effect, Texas sued to block it from affecting state employees.
The state of Texas is trying to take away the freedom working people won through federal law, plain and simple.
If Texas wins its case before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, it could mean that more workers like the CO in Abilene will be put at risk in the future.
But members of AFSCME Texas Correctional Employees Council 907 (TCEC) who work in Texas prisons are coming together and fighting back to preserve the PWFA.
Earlier today, AFSCME filed a friend-of-the-court brief, urging the court to side with working families in this case.
The brief includes shocking stories from COs who suffered because they were denied simple workplace accommodations during and after pregnancy.
One pregnant corrections officer was disciplined and sent home without pay after requesting accommodation regarding restroom access during an inmate transport.
Another CO in Texas was forced to go on unpaid leave because management refused to put her on light duty late in her pregnancy. The warden called her a “liability” because of her routine request for accomodation.
In Texas, thousands of corrections officers and employees are members of TCEC.
They already face hazardous working conditions that are made worse by chronic short-staffing and a lack of air conditioningat facilities. Not having the protections of the PWFA makes the job even more dangerous for many of them.
Public safety professionals are turning to AFSCME to build power at work, and advocate for safety on the job, better wages, good health care and a secure retirement. AFSCME members in corrections, law enforcement and emergency response defend our freedoms and our communities.