The ACLU on Monday, Oct. 7, filed a lawsuit against the Pacific Maritime Association and the longshore union, arguing that they have failed to provide accommodations for pregnant port workers and maintained a discriminatory promotion system.

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit names as defendants the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents terminal operators at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13, which represents longshoremen at West Coast ports.

The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of Endanicha Bragg, Tracy Plummer and Marisol Romero, who are current non-union dockworkers seeking full-time jobs and union membership. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction requiring PMA to implement reasonable accommodations for pregnant and breastfeeding casual workers. The plaintiffs also want all defendants to change their policies, which they say penalize pregnant workers for their absences.

Representatives of the PMA and ILWU Local 13 did not return requests for comment.

The lawsuit argues the PMA and the longshore union violated the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, the California Pregnancy Disability Leave Law, the California Family Rights Act and the state Unfair Competition Law.

The amount of time that casual dockworkers have to accumulate to move up to full-time positions and union membership in some cases is more than 7,000 hours, a challenging goal because work opportunities can be highly irregular for workers who aren’t full time, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

Workers who are pregnant are more vulnerable to falling behind in accumulating hours, and if they refuse an assignment potentially hazardous to a pregnancy, they not only lose hours and pay, but will also not have the chance to work again until their assigned work code comes up in rotation, the plaintiffs’ attorneys argued.

Although clerical work and other jobs exist at the ports, the unions failed to provide pregnant casual workers with those assignments, despite state law prohibiting employers from refusing to provide reasonable accommodation for an employee for a condition related to pregnancy, the suit argues.

The complaint also argues that the unions refused to provide minimum lactation accommodations for workers who want to breastfeed when they return to work after giving birth, which the state labor code requires.

“Women make up 40% of the casual workforce at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach,” said Gillian Thomas, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project. “But you wouldn’t know it from the policies of the PMA, ILWU and Local 13.”