Frontier Airlines pilots challenge breastfeeding policies

Four female pilots are filing discrimination charges against Frontier Airlines, alleging the company's policies on pregnancy and nursing fail to accommodate breastfeeding requirements. The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed the formal complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Denver-based pilots, who are all employed at Frontier, claim that upon returning from maternity leave, the airline did not provide proper accommodations to pump breast milk. In their charge, Shannon Kiedrowski, Brandy Beck, Erin Zielinski and Randi Freyer say their employer did not give them a designated location to breastfeed at the airport, nor on the aircraft. The group also says Frontier did not offer temporary work reassignments in the final stages of their pregnancies, when they were unable to fly. Instead, they were forced to take eight to 10 weeks of unpaid leave, they claim. "There's a very clear law that requires employers to provide breaks and non-bathroom locations for employees to express breast milk," said Galen Sherwin, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Women's Rights Project. "None of these were available to the pilots." Six percent of commercial pilots are women, Sherwin said. Frontier Airlines challenged the claims.<br/>