Addressing Employer Responsibilities to Pregnant Workers
Kathryn Barcroft discusses 'Young v. United Parcel Service,' which was argued before the Supreme Court on Dec. 3, 2014, and the question of whether a company that provides work accommodations to non-pregnant employees with work limitations must also provide work accommodations to pregnant employees who are "similar in their ability or inability to work."
January 12, 2015 at 10:36 PM
12 minute read
Last July, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued an Enforcement Guidance regarding the rights of pregnant women1 under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). The PDA provides that “women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment related purposes…as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.”2
The Guidance directly addressed whether or not an employer that provides work accommodations to non-pregnant employees with work limitations must also provide work accommodations to pregnant employees who are “similar in their ability or inability to work.” The Guidance answered this question in the affirmative, stating that the PDA requires an employer to provide light-duty work for a pregnant worker if the employer has a policy or practice of providing light duty to workers injured on the job and/or to employees with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This was the first time in several years that the EEOC took an official position regarding the obligation of employers to provide accommodations to pregnant women.
The EEOC's Guidance, however, may be superseded by a new case, Young v. United Parcel Service, which was argued before the Supreme Court on Dec. 3, 2014.3 Peggy Young's brief in support of her petition for certiorari discusses the factual background of her employment—she was a morning “air driver” for UPS, the world's largest package delivery company.4 Because of her pregnancy, Young's midwife advised her not to lift heavy packages—i.e., packages weighing more than 20 pounds. (Young's job required her to lift packages weighing up to 70 pounds.) The midwife provided Young with a note to give to her managers to advise them of this lifting restriction.
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