U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agrees to Settle Pregnancy Discrimination Case

An administrative judge tentatively approved a legal settlement between the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) and employees who were allegedly discriminated against because of their pregnancies.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) settlement would award $45 million to the employees, including around $9 million to cover legal fees. The class action suit argued that CBP violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act by compelling pregnant employees to submit to temporary light duty because of their pregnancy, “without regard to whether they could continue working in their positions of record either with or without a reasonable accommodation.” (Roberta Gabaldon, et al. v. Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, (CBP), Agency, EEOC No. 460-2024-00001X)

Many of the complainants work at the agency’s Office of Field Operations—CBP’s largest division, with around 33,600 employees. Approximately 25 percent of CBP employees are women. The office’s workers facilitate legal immigration, trade, and travel at ports of entry in the United States, and they search for contraband and inspect agriculture before cargo enters the country.

Roberta Gabaldon, an agriculture specialist in El Paso, Texas, and the lead complainant in the suit, was told to go on light duty after she told coworkers about her pregnancy, even though she was already assigned to a job with limited physical demands—training other employees. She was assigned to work as an agency cashier, despite her degree in agricultural biology, The Washington Post reported.

According to the law firm representing 1,000 women in the case, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, “The complaint challenged a CBP policy and practice pursuant to which more than 500 officers and agricultural specialists have been in temporary light duty positions. The evidence collected strongly supported the conclusion that all or most of these women were placed in these temporary light duty positions simply because they were pregnant, without assessing whether they could continue to perform the essential functions of their positions of record and without, according to them, the process and protections afforded to employees with comparable short-term disabilities.”

These role changes can result in pay cuts due to no overtime and could damage the employee’s opportunities for advancement. The practice “instilled a culture of shame and perpetuated a fear of retaliation as women try to hide their pregnancies at work for as long as possible,” according to The New York Times.

Gary Gilbert, one of the lawyers for the complainants, told the Post that a common theme “echoed over and over again” by CBP women was “this feeling that they were not as valuable because they were pregnant.”

A CBP official told the Post that there was no agency policy mandating light duty for pregnant people but acknowledged that managers sometimes operate outside agency guidelines. Joseph Sellers, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, said the actions were likely not malicious but paternalistic, with supervisors doubting the pregnant employees’ ability to do their jobs or worrying about the safety of the fetuses when those employees were on their regular assignments.

As part of the settlement, CBP does not admit any fault, but it will be required to draft a new policy for pregnant women presuming that they “can continue to serve in their positions of record with or without accommodations unless medical evidence is presented from the officer or specialist that warrants a different result.”

CBP will also need to identify appropriate accommodations that can enable pregnant employees to continue to perform their assigned duties, including more adaptable equipment and uniforms and the ability to swap discrete duties or rotations with other employees.

Pregnant employees currently on temporary light duty must be given the opportunity to resume full duty or revert back to their usual shift, as well as the chance to attend trainings or participate in bid cycles.

Lawyers representing the women in the suit will monitor CBP’s compliance for three years. The agency will be required to provide a minimum of 60 minutes of live, interactive, and comprehensive training for all managers and supervisors about pregnant employees’ rights.

Final approval of the settlement is expected in late September.