A parking space that’s closer to the office. More rest breaks and more schedule flexibility for doctor visits. Even just a stool to sit on at a job with lots of standing.
Those are the types of requests that pregnant women might ask of their bosses, and they’re about to gain more legal protection from a new federal law. Workers making such workplace requests will have more protections too.
More than a decade after the first legislative efforts, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will take effect Tuesday, June 27 — and advocates and regulators say it’s a clear win for new and expecting mothers.
“It’s landmark civil rights legislation that’s going to both improve the health and economic security of women, as well as boost morale and profitability of businesses,” said Liz Morris, deputy director of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC College of the Law, San Francisco.
Though there were already some legal protections for pregnant workers, Morris said the new law — which gained support from medical associations, business groups and organized labor — sets “a clear mandate now that accommodations must be made for pregnancy.”
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was part of the end-of-year spending deal that lawmakers passed in December. The same bill packed in a range of new laws, from new retirement savings rules to a ban on TikTok downloads for U.S. government-issued devices.
The protections aren’t just for pregnant workers at office jobs, said Elizabeth Gedmark, vice president at A Better Balance, a legal advocacy organization that’s been instrumental in the push for the law. They’ll extend to sectors like retail, restaurants, warehouses, hotels, healthcare and other industries too, she said.
There are roughly 3 million women who work while they’re pregnant each year, by one count. While more than half of women were in the workforce last year, more than three-quarters of women ages 25 to 44 were part of the labor pool, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“For them to be able to confidently go and start a conversation with their boss and say ‘this is what I need, and know they have legal backing to actually have those accommodations. …That makes a world of difference,” Gedmark said.
Here’s what to know before going into a conversation like that.
What does the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act do?
There are already federal laws that outlaw firing and discrimination of workers based on pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions. There’s the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, an amendment to 1964’s Civil Rights Act. There’s also the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which requires businesses to set up “reasonable accommodations” for workers with disabilities.
The problem has been the legal lengths a pregnant woman had to go to convince managers — and judges — that they need workplace accommodations, Morris and Gedmark explained. Before a woman could legally justify her need for some type of workplace change, she would first have to show her bosses that other co-workers in similar situations were also getting specialized treatment.
Now, “they can directly ask for those accommodations,” said Carol Miaskoff, legal counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal regulator enforcing the law and writing the regulations for its day to day use.
“That is, I think, a big step forward. It is filling a space where there really was only spotty protection at the federal level.”
What kind of accommodations does the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act protect?
Some examples include letting pregnant employees carry food or a water bottle with them, limiting their heavy lifting, providing better-fitting uniforms, and giving them the option, when applicable, to work from home, experts said. The legal coverage also applies after childbirth, allowing for accommodations like postpartum leave time.
The law builds on employers’ legal obligations for breastfeeding workers. The PUMP act says employers have to give nursing workers sufficient time to pump breast milk. A breastfeeding-related accommodation under the new law would be something like allowing adjustments on uniforms or work gear, Gedmark said.
The federal law works alongside more than 30 state and local laws for pregnant workers. One big difference is while there’s no federal law requiring paid medical and family leave, state and local laws might offer paid leave, Gedmark said.
A Better Balance has a breakdown of the workplace and leave laws across the country, as well as links to sample letters workers can use to bring up accommodation requests with their bosses.
The sorts of accommodations might vary, but Morris said the law’s requirements have a simple theme. “Just treat the employee humanely when they ask for what they need to stay healthy.”
Employers have to make the accommodations unless it causes an “undue hardship” on operations, said the EEOC. “An ‘undue hardship’ is significant difficulty or expense for the employer,” the agency explained.
Which employers have to follow the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act?
The law applies to private-sector employers with at least 15 workers. It also includes labor organizations, employment agencies and public sector employers like Congress, federal agencies and state and local governments.
When the law goes into effect, the EEOC will also begin accepting complaints, or “charges” from workers about a lack of accommodation under the law. The alleged violations had to happen on June 27 or later, the EEOC said.
The law forbids employer retaliation against a worker who files a complaint or participates in an investigation into the allegations.
EEOC statistics show it received nearly 2,300 pregnancy-discrimination complaints from workers in fiscal year 2022. That’s down higher numbers in previous years, including the more than 3,700 complaints received in fiscal year 2012.
Filing a charge is a necessary first step before someone can sue their employer alleging discrimination, the EEOC says. (People claiming equal pay violations do not need a file a charge first, the agency says.)
The protections against retaliation matter, said Morris. “Pregnancy is often a very economically vulnerable scenario” because mothers have a baby coming that they’ll have to support. “They have to weigh what their needs are, and what the risk are in standing up for what they needs are.”
The EEOC has already started the outreach campaign and will keep at it, said Miaskoff. For the new and expecting mothers who are juggling work and life, she advised: “if they need a change at work, if they need something at work to continue to work in a healthy fashion, to ask for it, because they have a right to ask for it now.”
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