On Tuesday, a new federal law that requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” for pregnant and postpartum workers went into effect, expanding protections for millions of people.
The law, called the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, has been more than a decade in the making. It was first introduced in Congress in 2012 and reintroduced in almost every legislative session since. The act passed with bipartisan support in December 2022, in large part thanks to growing awareness of the country’s worsening maternal health outcomes and the lack of support for working mothers, said Dina Bakst, the co-president of A Better Balance, a national advocacy organization that helped Congress draft the new law.
The P.W.F.A. builds on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which was enacted more than 40 years ago but was so riddled with loopholes that pregnancy discrimination has remained rampant, Ms. Bakst said. Often, at the heart of such discrimination is a lack of accommodations. According to a 2022 poll by the Bipartisan Policy Center, 23 percent of mothers considered leaving their jobs because of a lack of reasonable accommodations or fear of discrimination. Every year, thousands of pregnant workers file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging discrimination. According to the agency, at least a third of the more than 2,000 pregnancy discrimination complaints it received last year were based on a lack of reasonable accommodations.
This new law strengthens protections for pregnant workers — the majority of whom work until their last month of pregnancy — so that they no longer have to choose between “maintaining a healthy pregnancy or a safe recovery from childbirth and a paycheck,” Ms. Bakst said. It is “a win for women, families and the economy.”
The P.W.F.A., explained
The law applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including hourly workers. In addition to covering pregnant employees, it also protects those with “related medical conditions,” including women undergoing fertility treatment, as well as those who have postpartum depression and those who have had an abortion or pregnancy loss.
Accommodations could include providing chairs or stools for those who have to be on their feet all day. They could also entail more bathroom breaks; temporary reassignments to roles with lighter duties or with less exposure to harmful toxins; flexible schedules to accommodate morning sickness and even time off for prenatal checkups and postpartum care, said Liz Morris, deputy director of the Center for WorkLife Law, an advocacy and research organization at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. The new law has left the term “reasonable accommodations” undefined so that it is broad enough to be applied to a variety of cases based on an employee’s needs, as long as it doesn’t place “an undue hardship” on the business.
These tweaks can go “a long way” in improving the overall health of the mother and baby, Dr. Dawnette Lewis, director of Northwell Health’s Center for Maternal Health, said. A pregnant worker with gestational diabetes, for example, might need extra breaks to monitor her blood sugar levels or to take insulin shots, but this accommodation can help her remain healthy during pregnancy and still do her job, she said.
Strenuous environments include night shifts; frequent exposure to toxins; and physical demands, like being on one’s feet for more than three hours at a time. Pregnant workers in those environments face an increased risk of complications, including miscarriage and preterm birth, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
How to talk to your boss
Asking for accommodations can feel daunting “because pregnant patients don’t want to be viewed as if they can’t do their jobs or that they’re asking for favors,” Dr. Lewis said. But, she said, “if we can help pregnant people be healthy during pregnancy and also deliver healthy babies, we’re doing a tremendous service, not just for the patient but for us as a society.”
Make clear to your boss that the modification needed is related to pregnancy or childbirth and that it’s temporary, Ms. Morris said. And, even though the onus is now on the employer to figure out how to meet the pregnant worker’s needs, “it is always a good idea to demonstrate to your boss how your accommodation might be feasible, saying things like ‘I’ve enlisted my co-worker for help,’” she added. “You always want to reconfirm your commitment to your job.”
If a certain request for accommodation presents an “undue hardship” on the company, the employer and employee have to negotiate to find a creative workaround, Ms. Morris said. If all else fails, the worker can file a complaint with the E.E.O.C., she said.
