Pregnant Workers Fairness Act introduced in Congress

Earlier this week, Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Susan Davis (D-CA), introduced the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

What’s in the bill and how will it affect employers? Find out after the jump…

According to a press release from Rep. Nadler, the focus of the bill is on employers affording reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers and applicants:

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will…[require] employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers and [prevent] employers from forcing women out on leave when another reasonable accommodation would allow them to continue working. The bill also bars employers from denying employment opportunities to women based on their need for reasonable accommodations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.

Like many others who represent employers, I’m left scratching my head. Over at the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog, Jon Hyman questioned the need for this legislation in light of how employers are already perform under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act:

Unless you are among the tiniest minority of employers that provides no accommodations for any employees’ medical issues or injuries, then the PDA already requires you to accommodate your employees’ pregnancies.

Jon is right. The EEOC’s Facts on Pregnancy Discrimination confirm that employers may not single out pregnant employees with respect to workplace accommodations:

If an employee is temporarily unable to perform her job because of her pregnancy, the employer must treat her the same as any other temporarily disabled employee. For example, if the employer allows temporarily disabled employees to modify tasks, perform alternative assignments, or take disability leave or leave without pay, the employer also must allow an employee who is temporarily disabled because of pregnancy to do the same.

Further, as Eve Tahmincioglu notes at CareerDiva, while pregnancy itself is not a disability, “[p]regnant women are also protected under the American With Disabilities Act if they face some sort of covered disability, or exacerbate a disability because of pregnancy.”

Do you support the bill? Sound off below. And I’ll keep you updated as it makes its way through Congress.