Victory for Gabby, Bozeman Firefighter’s Pregnancy Leave Battle

"Gabby stood for what's right." Remember when we told you about the Bozeman firefighter who was denied bereavement leave after losing her baby? Here's the big update.

Thanks to Colt for sharing the update with us on X. The full story is below. Bottom line: the city has now reached an agreement with the firefighters union and will allow the city's leave policy to cover the loss of an early pregnancy.

Here's the original post from Late July, click here to also read the response from the City of Bozeman. 

A Bozeman firefighter and medic was denied bereavement leave by the city after losing her baby to an ectopic pregnancy. Then, she says the city compared her loss to the loss of a pet.

Gabby Murphy called into our radio show this AM to speak out about her situation, which she also detailed in a lengthy Instagram post shared with us by a military veteran friend of mine in Bozeman.

Here's part of what Gabby shared on Instagram:

February 17th, 2024, I experienced a traumatic pregnancy loss. After finding out we were pregnant, we were so excited! After a long time dealing with infertility and a previous baby loss, we felt like we were finally getting our chance, our rainbow baby. As the pregnancy progressed, I began experiencing severe pain in my abdomen that continued to get worse. For a week I told myself that if I didn’t acknowledge it, it wasn’t real. I wasn’t going to accept that anything would take away my chance to have this baby. Despite almost a decade of medical knowledge and experience, I just KNEW that if I was strong enough, that nothing could touch this pregnancy. It doesn’t make logical sense I know, but to a mother, it makes all sense in the world.

She then shared how she had to be rushed to the ER by the end of the week and was told that they had lost the pregnancy of their "very-wanted child. In the time that followed, she says she reached out to the City of Bozeman Human Resources department "to ask to use bereavement leave, as the policy stated that loss of "child" was a qualifier. I was denied over the phone with no explanation of why."

She then added this:

I kept pushing for answers. Over multiple meetings between HR, the City Manager, and myself, I was given a variety of reasons why I was denied:

• I was told it was because my baby wasn’t viable;
• That "pregnancy loss is common";
• That I wouldn’t have been able to obtain a death certificate at the time of my loss (despite this not being stated anywhere in the policy or as past practice);
• That this would open the door for male employees grieving a lost pregnancy to be eligible as well;
• That employees would abuse bereavement leave for pregnancy loss, and that the Fire Department specifically "abuses time.": I’ve even compared my pregnancy loss to the "loss of a pet" when describing their view of unreasonable Bereavement Leave requests that they must deny.

Gabby: "If this resonates with you, please share my story, write letters, call Bozeman City Hall, and the Commissioners, speak up in whatever capacity you feel inclined to do. People deserve better than this, and nothing will change for the better unless we push for it."

Click here for more, and the response from the City of Bozeman at the time.