Workplace Accommodations and Protections for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers: New Federal Law Requirements

Description

Until recently, no federal law assured pregnant workers the right to reasonable accommodations in the workplace. Congress passed the PWFA which states that private sector employers with more than 15 employees, as well as public sector employers, must provide reasonable accommodations for job applicants and employees with known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, except if doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of a business. Like the ADA, the PWFA would require an interactive process between employers and pregnant workers to determine what constitutes appropriate and reasonable accommodations.

In addition to the PWFA, the PUMP Act was included in the new legislation. This new law extends workplace protections for nursing mothers to include exempt, as well as non-exempt, employees. The law also provides that employees must be completely relieved from work or otherwise such time is counted as hours worked, which is significant for calculating overtime for non-exempt employees. Among other issues, including break locations, there are carveouts for small employers/businesses where compliance would pose an undue hardship and new exceptions for certain employees of air, rail, and bus operators.

For enforcement purposes, the PWFA will be enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) laws. The PWFA also provides a private right of action upon an aggrieved employee's exhaustion of their EEOC administrative remedies. The PUMP Act will be enforced under the remedies provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes a private right of action for aggrieved employees who faced retaliation. Both the PWFA and the PUMP Act do not preempt state or local laws that afford greater protections for pregnant and nursing workers.

Listen as our distinguished panel of employment counsel discusses the PWFA and the PUMP Act and its pivotal accommodations and protections. The panel will also address more generous state and local laws, especially in the case of multistate employers and offer practical advice for PWFA and PUMP Act compliance.