Legislators introduce The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

A bipartisan group of legislators reintroduced The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) last Tuesday, with the aim of closing the gap between existing protections for pregnant workers and discrimination that still persists against them. The bill was first introduced in 2012 by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) but failed when opponents claimed that it would create an undue burden for companies. Now, the legislators hope for a different outcome.

“No woman should be forced out of a job or denied employment opportunities simply because she is pregnant,” said Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA), one of the sponsors of the bill.

If passed, the PWFA would close existing gaps in workplace protections for pregnant employees by obligating employers to make minor changes to support them – for example permitting someone an extra bathroom break during a shift, or a chair to sit on. Modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act, the PWFA states that providing  reasonable accommodation is the affirmative duty of an employer unless doing so would pose an undue hardship to his or her business. In addition, the legislation prohibits employers from discriminating against people on the basis of their need for reasonable accommodations related to childbirth or pregnancy.

At the moment, only 25 American states have accommodations laws in place to protect pregnant women, which means that individuals in 50 percent of this country can only rely on federal statutes to guard against workplace discrimination. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), passed in 1974, provides some safeguards, as did a 2015 Supreme Court decision that outlined when and how the PDA should protect accommodations.

Still, studies have found that workplace discrimination against pregnancy people is a pervasive problem. Over the past decade, the number of pregnancy discrimination charges has increased by 35 percent. Yet according to a 2019 report by A Better Balance, in over two-thirds of anti-discrimination lawsuits filed in federal courts  since the 2015 SCOTUS ruling, judges ruled that “employers were permitted to deny pregnant workers accommodations under the PDA.” Legislators and advocates say that data demonstrates why the passage of the PWFA is so necessary.

Although the legislation will likely be approved by the House, it may face a tougher road to passage in the Republican-controlled Senate. Still, the bill has already received widespread support from civil society. The PWFA is supported by a number of civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Nation Women’s Law Center and Physicians for Reproductive Health. In addition, a number of businesses sent an open letter to Congress last week expressing support for the bill. Amongst the signatories were Spotify, Facebook, Chobani, the US Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Amalgamated Bank.

“As a business community, we strive to better support working mothers and mothers-to-be every day,” states the letter. “We urge the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act as an important step toward ensuring the health, safety and productivity of our modern workforce – and the workforce of tomorrow that they will help raise.