US Democrats introduce bill to protect pregnant workers’ rights

Liz Draper
WVoN co-editor

A bill designed to protect pregnant women’s rights in the workplace was introduced by five Democrats in the US Congress earlier this week.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) would require all employers to make reasonable adjustments to allow pregnant women to continue with their jobs.

Currently pregnant workers are protected by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibits “sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy”.

However, although many employers are willing to make adjustments during a worker’s pregnancy, they are not currently required by law to do so.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, says one of its proposers, will “require an employer to make a reasonable accommodation for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, unless this creates an undue hardship on the employer.”

The PWFA is modelled on the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires employers to make adjustments for disabled workers. However, it does not cover pregnant women because pregnancy is not a permanent condition.

In several recent cases, pregnant workers have lost their jobs because employers have refused to make adjustments for them.

Take the Wal-Mart employee who was fired for carrying a water bottle to avoid dehydration. In another, a delivery truck driver was denied “the same light duty routinely offered to other workers with physical limitations”, and was instead forced to take unpaid leave.

According to the PWFA’s sponsors in the House of Representatives, the bill aims to “clarify the law” to ensure that pregnant workers’ rights are fully protected.

The PWFA is being seen by some as a welcome relief from the spate of anti-abortion and anti-contraception laws introduced in Republican states such as Oklahoma and Tennessee.