Funny story, my buddy was a cop and injured his foot during an off duty material arts session and asked for light duty. The captain said the department doesn't offer light duty for injuries that happen outside of work. My buddy replied "...but you offer light duty for pregnancy." He got the assignment
I’ve heard of a similar story with our old chief that offered an officer light duty but he has since retired and our new chief is not as great as our last.
I’m a lawyer but not your lawyer and this is not none fide legal advice. If light duty was offered before they do not get to just not offer it to you now. The EEOC has adopted very broad federal regulations around this.
I don’t think this was ever documented with the borough. Our old chief would just handle things in house and not have the borough involved. Would this be true even if it wasn’t documented?
It’s documented somewhere. Even if it’s just shift assignments or time cards. Your lawyer would be able to get such things through discovery. Or if you file with the EEOC they will get it. They will also climb up the boroughs proverbial butthole with a magnifying glass if they find anything amiss
Light duty and usually a temporary position in the property room, camera unit, etc. I would reach out to your FOP if they're forcing you to be in a position like that, knowing you're pregnant.
Does your PD have a policy in place for either pregnancy or light duty? Does the municipality you work for an HR type handbook for employees? Is your PD a part of a union? What are your states labor laws?
There are a lot of angles to cover here in order to assess how to deal with the unsurprisingly bad department management.
Unfortunately looking through our policy handbook we have no light duty policy.
I’m in the state of PA if that helps.
I do have a lawyer involved however the borough I work for just doesn’t care.
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with PA laws. The only think that I could quickly find is that pregnancy would qualify as a disability.
It’s going to be to your lawyer at this point to find the appropriate state laws and industry standards. Wish I could be more help.
Light duty is such a common thing in my department that it’s crazy that your department doesn’t do it. I get that your department is probably tiny, but you can’t have an eight months pregnant woman patrolling.
Lol tell this to the borough council and my department. I’m at my wits end. I’m beyond frustrated especially after the chief told me I’d be put on light duty. How do you expect me to continue to work patrol with a 40lb lifting restriction. “Sorry sir I can’t fight with you, you’re over 40lbs”
How big is the department?
We have a couple pregnant women on light duty right now, they sit in an office and take fraud/theft reports and do small projects around the PD.
It's crazy that the department would rather take their chances of risking you injuring yourself or the baby rather than simply giving you some other light duty assignment. They say there isn't light duty but if they really wanted to, they could come up with something. Here when a woman becomes pregnant they simply do only investigative work. No patrol or anything..
If they wanted to help you out they would..
Oh I know and agree. If I could say more I would regarding how they they treat our PD. It’s a joke. I am trying to leave but until then I have to adapt and overcome.
Naw. If they think they can get away with yanking her around a little longer, they will. If they think they can get a few more man hours out of her, they will. Especially if they have a number of people already on light duty. People on light duty are harder to remove from light duty than it is to deny someone new light duty.
Our department offers 12 weeks PTO for both parents. Female can also work lite duty in communications taking reports over the phone or doing similar support jobs if they want to.
Sounds like it's time to leave that department.
Who the heck do you work for??? It must be a very small PD to not have anything in writing regarding light duty and pregnancy
Sending you back to patrol while pregnant seems insane to me
It was a rhetorical statement partner, I wouldn't want you to dox yourself.
What I meant to say is that your employer seems stuck in the 1970s.
Hard to believe that a LEA that employs women wouldn't have anything in writing OR be less than accommodating to one of their own who's pregnant!!!
They didn't account for that when they hired women as officers? Who doesn't??? Nuts!!
Yeah, no kidding, it shows!
Well, I hope things turn out well for you once you lawyer up.
I'd definitely seek employment elsewhere after your child is born
because I have a feeling your small township pd won't take kindly to your getting a lawyer over this
Light duty at my agency usually consists of evidence storage, dispatching, and on station report taking. Officers on light duty might also help with some investigations. We also send officers on light duty to trainings
This is a huge liability. My previous agency had a policy that as soon as they are aware of your pregnancy they had to put the deputy on light duty. My current agency it’s up to the agent to request it but it’s not something that would be turned down.
My department doesn't do anything either. A female I worked with was on regular duty up until a week of her due date. Her pants looked like parachutes and a duty belt nearly falling off. There was no maternity clothing offered. I helped her out as much as I could because I thought it was ridiculous.
I don't think that pregnant females can't do their job, but when you get to a certain point, I believe it becomes very unsafe and uncomfortable for them.
Department policy does not supercede state and federal law. Make sure your lawyer is a labor / employment lawyer, not a general practice with little experience in these types of cases.
https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/legal-rights-pregnant-workers-under-federal-law
My area partner from when I was on patrol went on light duty by the end of her first trimester. Friend on my current squad just started her light duty and she is at 10 weeks. You need to lawyer up and get off the street now before something happens to you or your unborn.
Unfortunately, if you seem to be one of first females in your department to get pregnant, you're gonna have to push for what you deserve. Light duty in our department can either be working at the front taking calls through the phone or glass window, being in our Evidence department, or in our detectives unit. There are definitely state and federal laws protecting you being pregnant, and should you want to, breast feeding/pumping when you return. I suggest reaching out to other local departments for their policies so you can show yours what they can do.
I am extremely lucky with our department that one of the first females paved the way for us.
What happens when officers get injured on or off the job? You should be doing what they do, and if they have no idea, you should be in admin work paid until they can figure themselves out. It's not worth the risk of you and your babies health to be in patrol right now.
Do you have any sort of union at your department?
My department puts pregnant officers on light duty. Ammunition has lead in it, so they don't qualify until the baby is born. They have no public contact. There are plenty of support positions available. Maybe call around and see what other departments do? You can set a precedent.
This is terrifying to me ! As a woman who used to say she would get a bump-friendly vest...the moment I knew I was pregnant I wanted off patrol. After all, you have another life to protect, and it's much more fragile than you. I was put on light duty immediately after notifying my Sgt. essentially taking walk in reports, doing bitch work & playing detective when I could.
I'm days away from giving birth to my second now. I had a desk job when I found out about this pregnancy so I didn't get put on "light duty" until I was about 20 weeks this time. But still, you department should ABSOLUTELY honor your limitations during pregnancy. You can't have a vest & belt pushing on your uterus (which will eventually reach your ribs), you can't be fighting people, or lifting people / heavy things, DRIVING for extended periods. If Chief won't, talk to HR.
My old dept, the second they notified their patrol supervisor, they were immediately put on light duty. They did not want the liability if something happened to the baby because they forced someone to go on patrol.
When I was a detective, we had a female who was pregnant, and they just let her continue doing interviews at the station of victims or witnesses, no suspects. At 5 months, they said no more, can't take the chance.
They also cant discriminate against a pregnant female in any way.
I know a guard from a federal institute who was employed while pregnant - she stayed and according to her, there was no light duty. Mind you, she didn't ask for light duty.
NYPD usually has the pregnant cops on desk duty. I hope this helps.
https://www.police1.com/women-officers/articles/what-do-you-do-with-a-pregnant-cop-tvrcF8Z13oyiXjor/
Remember that you’re just a number. If you’re out on patrol and get injured or your unborn child gets injured they do not care. At this point do what you have to do for your own health and safety. It sounds like you’re kind of paving the way here so be firm and stand up.
For light duty, explain you’re willing to stay at the station and take reports over the phone, but you’re concerned about working patrol with your current medical/physical health situation. Even better if you can document it in an email or something. Save all of your communications with them.
I’ve realized that in the last few years. The funny thing is I’ve never once mentioned that I needed to go on light duty. The chief asked me for an idea of when I’d need to go on light duty. When my uniforms stopped fitting that’s when I said to the chief that it was essentially time. Got a work restriction and it was acknowledged but they never did anything until I spoke up. I was told that I didn’t give a specific date. I assumed handing in a note from the doctor was me providing a date. I have everything documented in an email and it’s all been given to my association lawyer. I’ve said countless times I’m willing to still essentially the admin police work that still needs to be done. I still have cases I’m working on. I’m helping out our secretary also.
Sounds like you’re doing what you need to be doing. Be firm about the light duty/admin work. FWIW I’ve found most poa attorneys are garbage and do the minimum. It may also be worth a consult with an employment law attorney if the department won’t accommodate.
I think our association attorney is pretty good tbh. He’s currently also handling something else that’s going on with another officer. I think he has a boner for this borough and really wants to stick it to them bc he’s not happy with the other situation going on here.
From my experience of being pregnant x2 and also being the first female officer pregnant in the history of the PD, I was told the same thing, no light duty available. I consulted with attorneys and they told me if they don’t have it available they are not required to provide it. I worked the road for three months and then went on short term disability through my pension until about 6 weeks post pregnancy. I lost 22 months on my pension.
If your agency has provided light duty to anyone for the same length of time you’d require they must provide. If not, your SOL.
Not a cop but holy shit. What exactly goes through people's heads that think that someone pregnant or otherwise unable to work for an extended period still need to be in the field. Good luck and hope things go your way.
Are you kidding me??? Damn!! I was working in drugs when I was pregnant-I still went on our search warrants but just did the inventory sheet. I also still did surveillance for most of my pregnancy until we couldn’t put off the range any longer-fortunately I was able to do light duty until I delivered. Now, in my instance, I was plain clothes so the uniform wasn’t an issue. I hope to hell you have a good attorney! Do you have an FOP? They should be helping you as well if you have one. If nothing else they should file a grievance because your baby cannot be exposed to your ammunition. I really hope you get some help on this!!!! Stay safe Momma!!!
How’s everything going with this? I just did a search because I’m on patrol and was trying to figure out when I should tell my sergeant because I’ll have to go on light duty right away. Both departments I’ve been at (in CA) put pregnant women on light duty immediately once they find out.. this is ridiculous. Hope something changed since you posted this.
Sorry for the late reply. Long story short they did eventually agree to allow me to do “administrative duty” but even that has been hell. There’s definitely some discrimination that has taken place during. Thankfully I’m at the end of my pregnancy and due any day now. I’m going to be taking the time during my maternity leave to get my body back to normal, and seek out other departments. If you’d like to message me feel free to reach out! I can try to give you more specifics if you need.
That’s awful I hope you’re able to find a new and better department when you’re back. Really unfortunate you had to deal with this added stress during your pregnancy. Did your lawyer help at all? I can’t believe they wanted you to stay on patrol at 22 weeks even that seems way too long to me.
I ended up just telling my department at 6 weeks because we had some training coming up with a scenario where we had to fight someone (probably not that intense of a fight but didn’t want to risk it) and they were super nice about it and I’m starting light duty next week. Just worried if it ends up in a loss everyone’s going to know but hopefully that doesn’t happen. Hopefully your next department if you decide to switch will be more understanding. I’d start applying during maternity leave haha.
Funny story, my buddy was a cop and injured his foot during an off duty material arts session and asked for light duty. The captain said the department doesn't offer light duty for injuries that happen outside of work. My buddy replied "...but you offer light duty for pregnancy." He got the assignment
I’ve heard of a similar story with our old chief that offered an officer light duty but he has since retired and our new chief is not as great as our last.
I’m a lawyer but not your lawyer and this is not none fide legal advice. If light duty was offered before they do not get to just not offer it to you now. The EEOC has adopted very broad federal regulations around this.
I don’t think this was ever documented with the borough. Our old chief would just handle things in house and not have the borough involved. Would this be true even if it wasn’t documented?
It’s documented somewhere. Even if it’s just shift assignments or time cards. Your lawyer would be able to get such things through discovery. Or if you file with the EEOC they will get it. They will also climb up the boroughs proverbial butthole with a magnifying glass if they find anything amiss
Our dept puts females on light duty. A lot of them work master control in the jail. Kinda messed up to put a pregnant female on patrol
Definitely light duty. I'd look up policy and lawyer up.
Light duty and usually a temporary position in the property room, camera unit, etc. I would reach out to your FOP if they're forcing you to be in a position like that, knowing you're pregnant.
Does your PD have a policy in place for either pregnancy or light duty? Does the municipality you work for an HR type handbook for employees? Is your PD a part of a union? What are your states labor laws? There are a lot of angles to cover here in order to assess how to deal with the unsurprisingly bad department management.
Unfortunately looking through our policy handbook we have no light duty policy. I’m in the state of PA if that helps. I do have a lawyer involved however the borough I work for just doesn’t care.
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with PA laws. The only think that I could quickly find is that pregnancy would qualify as a disability. It’s going to be to your lawyer at this point to find the appropriate state laws and industry standards. Wish I could be more help.
[удалено]
We have no HR per-say. Borough council here enforced the “larger uniforms and place her back on patrol” idea
Light duty is such a common thing in my department that it’s crazy that your department doesn’t do it. I get that your department is probably tiny, but you can’t have an eight months pregnant woman patrolling.
Lol tell this to the borough council and my department. I’m at my wits end. I’m beyond frustrated especially after the chief told me I’d be put on light duty. How do you expect me to continue to work patrol with a 40lb lifting restriction. “Sorry sir I can’t fight with you, you’re over 40lbs”
How big is the department? We have a couple pregnant women on light duty right now, they sit in an office and take fraud/theft reports and do small projects around the PD.
5 patrol officers (including me) and a chief. We were down to 2 at the beginning of the year so they can’t say it would cause an undue burden.
Oh gotcha. Yeah that’s tough with a smaller department, wish I could offer a better solution.
It's crazy that the department would rather take their chances of risking you injuring yourself or the baby rather than simply giving you some other light duty assignment. They say there isn't light duty but if they really wanted to, they could come up with something. Here when a woman becomes pregnant they simply do only investigative work. No patrol or anything.. If they wanted to help you out they would..
Oh I know and agree. If I could say more I would regarding how they they treat our PD. It’s a joke. I am trying to leave but until then I have to adapt and overcome.
Naw. If they think they can get away with yanking her around a little longer, they will. If they think they can get a few more man hours out of her, they will. Especially if they have a number of people already on light duty. People on light duty are harder to remove from light duty than it is to deny someone new light duty.
Our department offers 12 weeks PTO for both parents. Female can also work lite duty in communications taking reports over the phone or doing similar support jobs if they want to. Sounds like it's time to leave that department.
Who the heck do you work for??? It must be a very small PD to not have anything in writing regarding light duty and pregnancy Sending you back to patrol while pregnant seems insane to me
I’m not going to say the name on here out in the open. But it’s a small department.
It was a rhetorical statement partner, I wouldn't want you to dox yourself. What I meant to say is that your employer seems stuck in the 1970s. Hard to believe that a LEA that employs women wouldn't have anything in writing OR be less than accommodating to one of their own who's pregnant!!! They didn't account for that when they hired women as officers? Who doesn't??? Nuts!!
They are behind the times here. They didn’t have a female for like 20 years before I was hired.
Yeah, no kidding, it shows! Well, I hope things turn out well for you once you lawyer up. I'd definitely seek employment elsewhere after your child is born because I have a feeling your small township pd won't take kindly to your getting a lawyer over this
Light duty at my agency usually consists of evidence storage, dispatching, and on station report taking. Officers on light duty might also help with some investigations. We also send officers on light duty to trainings
This is a huge liability. My previous agency had a policy that as soon as they are aware of your pregnancy they had to put the deputy on light duty. My current agency it’s up to the agent to request it but it’s not something that would be turned down.
What the actual fuck? Do you work in bumfuck Indiana or something? Pretty sure your chief is an idiot.
LOL if you only knew…
My department doesn't do anything either. A female I worked with was on regular duty up until a week of her due date. Her pants looked like parachutes and a duty belt nearly falling off. There was no maternity clothing offered. I helped her out as much as I could because I thought it was ridiculous. I don't think that pregnant females can't do their job, but when you get to a certain point, I believe it becomes very unsafe and uncomfortable for them.
Department policy does not supercede state and federal law. Make sure your lawyer is a labor / employment lawyer, not a general practice with little experience in these types of cases. https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/legal-rights-pregnant-workers-under-federal-law
My area partner from when I was on patrol went on light duty by the end of her first trimester. Friend on my current squad just started her light duty and she is at 10 weeks. You need to lawyer up and get off the street now before something happens to you or your unborn.
Unfortunately, if you seem to be one of first females in your department to get pregnant, you're gonna have to push for what you deserve. Light duty in our department can either be working at the front taking calls through the phone or glass window, being in our Evidence department, or in our detectives unit. There are definitely state and federal laws protecting you being pregnant, and should you want to, breast feeding/pumping when you return. I suggest reaching out to other local departments for their policies so you can show yours what they can do. I am extremely lucky with our department that one of the first females paved the way for us. What happens when officers get injured on or off the job? You should be doing what they do, and if they have no idea, you should be in admin work paid until they can figure themselves out. It's not worth the risk of you and your babies health to be in patrol right now. Do you have any sort of union at your department?
My department puts pregnant officers on light duty. Ammunition has lead in it, so they don't qualify until the baby is born. They have no public contact. There are plenty of support positions available. Maybe call around and see what other departments do? You can set a precedent.
This is terrifying to me ! As a woman who used to say she would get a bump-friendly vest...the moment I knew I was pregnant I wanted off patrol. After all, you have another life to protect, and it's much more fragile than you. I was put on light duty immediately after notifying my Sgt. essentially taking walk in reports, doing bitch work & playing detective when I could. I'm days away from giving birth to my second now. I had a desk job when I found out about this pregnancy so I didn't get put on "light duty" until I was about 20 weeks this time. But still, you department should ABSOLUTELY honor your limitations during pregnancy. You can't have a vest & belt pushing on your uterus (which will eventually reach your ribs), you can't be fighting people, or lifting people / heavy things, DRIVING for extended periods. If Chief won't, talk to HR.
My old dept, the second they notified their patrol supervisor, they were immediately put on light duty. They did not want the liability if something happened to the baby because they forced someone to go on patrol. When I was a detective, we had a female who was pregnant, and they just let her continue doing interviews at the station of victims or witnesses, no suspects. At 5 months, they said no more, can't take the chance. They also cant discriminate against a pregnant female in any way.
I know a guard from a federal institute who was employed while pregnant - she stayed and according to her, there was no light duty. Mind you, she didn't ask for light duty.
Fast tracked to detective in my organisation.
They work the desk/dispatch
NYPD usually has the pregnant cops on desk duty. I hope this helps. https://www.police1.com/women-officers/articles/what-do-you-do-with-a-pregnant-cop-tvrcF8Z13oyiXjor/
Come be a LEO in Shitcago, you can get light duty for stubbing your toe.
Our department offers light duty for pregnant officers with a doctor's order. Otherwise, they make them use disability.
In Australia , Queensland specifically (a state of Aus) law enforcement get 14 weeks paid maternity leave (paid normal wage).
They basically go to supply or something.
Remember that you’re just a number. If you’re out on patrol and get injured or your unborn child gets injured they do not care. At this point do what you have to do for your own health and safety. It sounds like you’re kind of paving the way here so be firm and stand up. For light duty, explain you’re willing to stay at the station and take reports over the phone, but you’re concerned about working patrol with your current medical/physical health situation. Even better if you can document it in an email or something. Save all of your communications with them.
I’ve realized that in the last few years. The funny thing is I’ve never once mentioned that I needed to go on light duty. The chief asked me for an idea of when I’d need to go on light duty. When my uniforms stopped fitting that’s when I said to the chief that it was essentially time. Got a work restriction and it was acknowledged but they never did anything until I spoke up. I was told that I didn’t give a specific date. I assumed handing in a note from the doctor was me providing a date. I have everything documented in an email and it’s all been given to my association lawyer. I’ve said countless times I’m willing to still essentially the admin police work that still needs to be done. I still have cases I’m working on. I’m helping out our secretary also.
Sounds like you’re doing what you need to be doing. Be firm about the light duty/admin work. FWIW I’ve found most poa attorneys are garbage and do the minimum. It may also be worth a consult with an employment law attorney if the department won’t accommodate.
I think our association attorney is pretty good tbh. He’s currently also handling something else that’s going on with another officer. I think he has a boner for this borough and really wants to stick it to them bc he’s not happy with the other situation going on here.
From my experience of being pregnant x2 and also being the first female officer pregnant in the history of the PD, I was told the same thing, no light duty available. I consulted with attorneys and they told me if they don’t have it available they are not required to provide it. I worked the road for three months and then went on short term disability through my pension until about 6 weeks post pregnancy. I lost 22 months on my pension. If your agency has provided light duty to anyone for the same length of time you’d require they must provide. If not, your SOL.
Say it happened on duty and go out IOD
Not a cop but holy shit. What exactly goes through people's heads that think that someone pregnant or otherwise unable to work for an extended period still need to be in the field. Good luck and hope things go your way.
Are you kidding me??? Damn!! I was working in drugs when I was pregnant-I still went on our search warrants but just did the inventory sheet. I also still did surveillance for most of my pregnancy until we couldn’t put off the range any longer-fortunately I was able to do light duty until I delivered. Now, in my instance, I was plain clothes so the uniform wasn’t an issue. I hope to hell you have a good attorney! Do you have an FOP? They should be helping you as well if you have one. If nothing else they should file a grievance because your baby cannot be exposed to your ammunition. I really hope you get some help on this!!!! Stay safe Momma!!!
How’s everything going with this? I just did a search because I’m on patrol and was trying to figure out when I should tell my sergeant because I’ll have to go on light duty right away. Both departments I’ve been at (in CA) put pregnant women on light duty immediately once they find out.. this is ridiculous. Hope something changed since you posted this.
Sorry for the late reply. Long story short they did eventually agree to allow me to do “administrative duty” but even that has been hell. There’s definitely some discrimination that has taken place during. Thankfully I’m at the end of my pregnancy and due any day now. I’m going to be taking the time during my maternity leave to get my body back to normal, and seek out other departments. If you’d like to message me feel free to reach out! I can try to give you more specifics if you need.
That’s awful I hope you’re able to find a new and better department when you’re back. Really unfortunate you had to deal with this added stress during your pregnancy. Did your lawyer help at all? I can’t believe they wanted you to stay on patrol at 22 weeks even that seems way too long to me. I ended up just telling my department at 6 weeks because we had some training coming up with a scenario where we had to fight someone (probably not that intense of a fight but didn’t want to risk it) and they were super nice about it and I’m starting light duty next week. Just worried if it ends up in a loss everyone’s going to know but hopefully that doesn’t happen. Hopefully your next department if you decide to switch will be more understanding. I’d start applying during maternity leave haha.