It was a case of exquisitely bad timing. Akema Thompson, an officer with the New York City Police Department, was scheduled to take the sergeant's exam on October 19, 2013. But she was also scheduled to do something else that day – give birth to a baby. Because fetuses don't take requests, Officer Thompson requested an accommodation from the city that would have allowed her to take the exam on another day in the event she needed to reschedule because of a conflict with childbirth or immediate recovery from it. Her request was denied, despite the fact that promotional exams were routinely rescheduled for other reasons.

Officer Thompson has filed a charge of discrimination against the City of New York, alleging that the testing accommodation policy, administered by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), was unlawful as applied to her. She claims that the denial of her request for an accommodation is invalid under federal, state, and local discrimination laws. While her case has yet to be adjudicated at any level, her situation is all too common among pregnant working women. Employers routinely deny costless accommodations that impose no hardship and that, in many cases, are made available to other workers because of circumstances or conditions that conflict with workplace obligations. Officer Thompson is just the latest victim of a system that fails to see pregnancy as a condition worthy of even minor accommodation. The consequences of this mind-set for individual women, like Officer Thompson, and women in general is devastating.

THOMPSON V. CITY OF NEW YORK: THE CHARGES

Officer Thompson is challenging the denial of a testing accommodation as a form of unlawful discrimination. Officer Thompson filed a charge with the EEOC, alleging denial of her requested accommodation constitutes sex, pregnancy, and disability discrimination. In her charge, she details the request she made and the various responses she received from DCAS. This agency regulates and administers testing for all city jobs – not just those at the NYPD. Thus, the NYPD was not responsible for the denial of Officer Thompson's request. Although the facts have not been adjudicated by an agency or court, the charge filed appends copies of the written correspondence back and forth between Officer Thompson and DCAS regarding her request.