Conference Addresses Rights and Protection of Pregnant Police Officers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC, March 8, 2010 – American University Washington College of Law will host a conference titled “Pregnancy in the Line of Duty: Pregnant Police Officers’ Constitutional Rights and the Real-World Implications of Protecting Them.” 

The increase in the number of women joining the ranks of police forces has grown significantly over the past three decades. This growth has presented a new challenge: how and whether police departments must accommodate pregnant police officers under civil rights statutes, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

Many female police officers who have been denied reasonable accommodations due to their pregnancies have sued claiming discrimination, with varying results. This panel will explore the legal arguments for and against providing reasonable accommodations to pregnant police officers, and the policy and real-world ramifications of those decisions for both the affected women and the public-at-large.

The conference is presented by the Program on Law and Government and the Women and the Law Program.

When: Thursday, March 18, 2010

            12 – 2:00 P.M.

Where: American University Washington College of Law

             4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20016, Room 528

Panelists:

Colonel Deborah Campbell, New York State Police

Karen Kruger (WCL LLM in Law & Government ’06), Partner, Funk & Bolton P.A.

Margaret Moore, Executive Director, National Center for Women & Policing

Gillian Thomas, Trial Attorney, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Karen Woodard, Deputy Chief, Employment Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Moderator:

Professor Bill Yeomans, Fellow in Law & Government, WCL

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