Rules on how employers can comply with a federal law protecting pregnant workers are set to take effect in about two months.
The USA Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provided clarity to employers and employees on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act on Monday. Under the statuteEmployers with 15 or more employees must accommodate pregnant employees’ requests for accommodations unless the changes impose an “undue hardship” on the employer.
Congress passed the PWFA in December 2022 and the law went into effect that year June 2023. However, the EEOC allowed plenty of time for public comment on the proposed rules.
About 100,000 comments were submitted to the commission, including about 54,000 asking the agency to exclude abortion from the definition of “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition” and about 40,000 supporting the inclusion of abortion.
Ultimately, the commission decided to include abortion as a condition for which employees can request an accommodation, such as time off. The decision was based on the plain text of the measure, according to a 400-page document document Explanation of the PWFA instructions. The rules will be published in Federal Register on Friday, but they won’t take effect until 60 days later.
“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is a win for workers, families and our economy. It gives pregnant workers clear access to reasonable accommodations that will allow them to continue to do their jobs safely and effectively and free from discrimination and retaliation,” EEOC Chairwoman Charlotte Burrows said in a statement.
The law stipulates that pregnant workers and future workers may be granted, for example, water breaks, meal breaks, bathroom breaks, a stool to sit on while working, time off for medical appointments, short-lived transfers and remote work. Americans with work can also request accommodations when recovering from abortion, breastfeeding, infertility treatments, miscarriages and stillbirths.
Organizations promoting gender equality in the workplace celebrated the adoption of the rules.
“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is a life-changing protection for pregnant and postpartum workers across the country, ensuring they are not forced out of work or denied the accommodations they need for their health.” said Dina Bakst, co-president of A Better Balance, in a statement. Bakst’s group has been pushing for the law’s passage for more than a decade.
States Newsroom Business reporter Casey Quinlan previously reported that the law was intended to close gaps in civil rights measures, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which bans discrimination against pregnant workers but requires someone to find a co-worker who has similar accommodations to compare has met. A 2022 Opinion poll found that one in five mothers have experienced pregnancy discrimination in the workplace.
“This is an important moment for pregnant workers, those experiencing pregnancy difficulties or complications, and those contemplating having a child.” said Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women and Families.
Frye said the rules would “strengthen protections for millions of workers, despite recent extreme partisan attempts to repeal this bipartisan law.” Opponents of abortion rights criticized the definition that abortion is considered a pregnancy-related disease.
“The inclusion of this controversial provision in the PWFA is wrong. Period,” U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, said in one opinion this week. “Abortion is not a medical condition related to pregnancy; it is the opposite.” Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm, said in August that including abortion as a reasonable accommodation was a “nationwide overreach.”
The law has also been the subject of legal disputes. A federal judge recently blocked enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in Texas after Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton sued President Joe Biden’s administration over its passage and other provisions in a $1.7 trillion 2022 spending package. Paxton argued that the law was unconstitutional because it was passed by proxy vote. Texas Tribune reported.
Adam Cyr, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department, declined Wednesday to comment on whether the agency will appeal the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Texas: We will not allow you to have an abortion, but we will do nothing to help you have a safe and healthy pregnancy,” said U.S. Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, in a statement to the State of Texas Pennsylvania Capital Star in February after the verdict. Casey was a co-sponsor of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and first introduced the bill in 2012.
