Seattle Public Schools face legal action over neglecting pregnant, nursing employee needs

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown alleged Seattle Public Schools (SPS) has repeatedly failed to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant and nursing employees in the latest lawsuit from the Washington Attorney General’s Office.

The office conducted an investigation and found SPS “routinely failed to provide legally required accommodations to pregnant and nursing employees.” This includes the lack of flexible restroom breaks, modified work schedules, and the ability to sit more frequently, all required by state law via Washington’s Healthy Starts Act and its Law Against Discrimination.

“These practices affected employees across various schools over several years,” the Washington Attorney General’s Office stated. “The state’s investigation revealed that Seattle Public Schools did not have a district-level policy for how to handle pregnancy accommodation requests from employees.”

The investigation found that one employee was unable to sit for her entire workday while she was eight months pregnant.

“These employees suffered mentally, physically, and financially because of the school district’s actions,” Brown stated. “The legislature has been clear that employers must accommodate the health needs of their pregnant and nursing workers, which is why Washington has laws banning employers from doing what Seattle Public Schools did to its employees.”

SPS’ continued alleged violations toward employees pumping milk

Something that came up repeatedly in the Washington Attorney General’s Office investigation was the lack of boundaries and flexibility to express milk, and the failure to provide clean and private locations for nursing employees to pump. Employees were walked in on while expressing milk, endured painful clogged ducts, and experienced infections like mastitis.

One employee felt the need “to take leave to continue breastfeeding,” according to the complaint.

The investigation found these poor practices go back to at least 2021.

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