Pregnant employees are entitled to workplace accommodations, according to new guidance issued July 14 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Because the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires that employers treat pregnant employees the same as other workers “not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work” — and because the Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to accommodate workers with disabilities — employers must accommodate pregnant employees. This may include providing modified tasks, alternative assignments, leave or fringe benefits, the guidance states.
The guidance also took aim at a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court has agreed to hear Young v. UPS, a case from last year in which the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a corporate policy that does not include pregnancy among the conditions making an employee eligible for light duty is a “neutral and legitimate business practice.” In Enforcement Guidance: Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues, EEOC made clear that “an employer may not refuse to treat a pregnant worker the same as other employees who are similar in their ability or inability to work by relying on a policy that makes distinctions based on the source of an employee’s limitations (e.g., a policy of providing light duty only to workers injured on the job).” In other words, if an employer provides light duty for any workers, it also must do so for pregnant employees.
EEOC has effectively imported the ADA into the PDA using a disparate treatment analysis, said David K. Fram, director of ADA and EEO services for the National Employment Law Institute. Now, women affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions are entitled to accommodations regardless of whether they have a disability, he said.
Therefore, requested accommodation for pregnancy will be subject to the ADA’s undue hardship analysis, the commission said. In addition, an employee trying to prove that her employer failed to accommodate her pregnancy can do so by showing that reasonable accommodations are provided under the ADA to individuals with disabilities who are similar in their ability or inability to work.
For information on implementing the EEOC’s new guidance, see Pay Careful Attention to Pregnancy Accommodation Requests as EEOC Plans New Enforcement Guidance.