Nearly five decades after the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the 116th Congress of the United States has signed into law the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). Set to go into effect on June 27, 2023, the bill ensures workers with known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or any related medical conditions will have undeniable access to those “reasonable accommodations” which would not pose “undue hardship” on their employers. Should no undue hardship be caused to the business, all employers with 15 or more employees must abide by the newly passed law.
Under the historic amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA), workers could no longer be discriminated against based on pregnancy, which includes denying job applications, underpaying pregnant employees, or firing them. Essentially, employers are prohibited from treating employees affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions differently from other similarly established employees. In 1990, when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted, employers were then required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with pregnancy-related conditions that qualified as disabilities (e.g., sciatica or anemia). However, great disparities in coverage still existed as many pregnancy-related conditions were not protected. The PWFA aims to bridge the gap by paralleling the rights afforded by the ADA to pregnant people in the workplace.
The bill explicitly prohibits employers from:
- necessitating covered employees “accept an accommodation other than any reasonable accommodation arrived at through the interactive process”;
- denying covered employees “employment opportunities” due to the “reasonable accommodation” requirement;
- demanding covered employees “take leave, whether paid or unpaid, if another reasonable accommodation can be provided”;
- retaliating against a covered employee for reporting or opposing unlawful discrimination under the PWFA.
The PWFA’s definition of reasonable accommodations is exactly that of the ADAs, which dictates modifications or adjustments to a job or work place that enable disabled employees to perform their job successfully. It is important to note the PWFA does not expressly issue regulations, instead directing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to “carry out” its provisions and provide “examples of reasonable accommodations” within one year of the law’s enactment. Further, the PWFA does not apply to pregnancy itself, rather to the “known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.” These “known limitations” are also not expressly stated, but must be “mental or physical conditions” communicated to one’s employer.
Across the nation, countless pregnant American workers in physically demanding and often low-wage jobs will be afforded necessary protections to preserve their physical and financial well-being. As American workers slowly find their bearings amidst the COVID-19 endemic, it is more important than ever that the health of all working people, especially the vulnerable, be taken into consideration. In passing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Congress has equated pregnancy with normalcy and reaffirmed that the modern workplace includes all conditions a worker may experience.