Moms Rising: Policy for pregnant workers is discriminatory
Group joining fight, urging Florence to rescind modified duty policy
Tri-State moms are pushing for change after a Florence police officer was denied desk duty during her pregnancy.
Florence police Officer Lyndi Trischler said she asked to be taken off the streets when she hit the five-month mark of her pregnancy, but her request was denied.
On Tuesday, the group Moms Rising delivered 10,000 signatures to Mayor Diane Whalen, urging the city to rescind its policy that only officers injured on the job are eligible for modified duty.
"The equipment is quite heavy, the gun belt, the bulletproof vest it caused a lot of pain, it was difficult to breathe once I got bigger,” Trischler told WLWT in August.
Moms Rising released a statement, saying, “No mother should ever have to be in the position where she is forced to choose between her job and her health or the health of her baby.”
City leaders cited a policy that only employees injured on the job are eligible for modified duty.
Under the policy, pregnant women fall under a non-work-related injury, illness or condition.
"What they're really asking for is not equal treatment, they're asking for preferential,” City Attorney Jeff Mando said. “Because how or why should we distinguish between an employee who's pregnant and wants them to do light duty, versus an employee who suffers some other type of illness or injury off duty and wants light duty.”
The first time Trischler was pregnant, she was allowed a desk job but she has been denied for her second child.
The city attorney said that was an exception, not the rule, because the mayor and City Council did not know until after the fact the first time.
“Courts have held that these policies are non-discriminatory that they are pregnancy blind, and that they are undertaken for legitimate business objectives and that's what happened here with the City of Florence,” Mando said.
Trischler's attorney, Elizabeth Gedmark, said despite the officer using vacation, sick time, disability insurance and even donated time off from fellow officers, she will have six weeks of unpaid leave.
"It does send a message that you're not going to get fair compensation; unpaid leave is not fair compensation when a doctor has recommended you get desk duty,” Colette Cole, with Moms Rising, said.
City leaders said they will look at the petitions and at least give them some consideration.
Trischler’s attorneys said they have filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the city of Florence, but so far the city has yet to respond.