If you are an employer or an employed woman this information may be important for you.
Did you know that as of June 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will come into effect?
This new legislation is applicable to any employer with 15 or more employees.
As you may have realized already, this law benefits women who are qualified but may have a temporary physical or medical limitation due to pregnancy.
The Employer is to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant women that are qualified job applicants or employees under this act.
Who is a job applicant or employee under the PWFA?
Any pregnant woman that:
What is expected from the Employer?
To provide reasonable accommodations unless doing so imposes an undue hardship.
It is interesting to note that these accommodations are to be reached through an interactive exchange between the Employer and the job applicant or employee.
What the Employer can’t do is to impose certain accommodation, as to require an employee to take leave if another reasonable accommodation can be provided.
The Employer can’t take “adverse action in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment against a qualified employee on account of the employee requesting or using a reasonable accommodation to the known limitations related to the pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions of the employee.” PWFA -Section 3 (5).
Is a pregnant woman able to request reasonable accommodations under this law, if she works for the state? The answer is Yes! According to Section 6 of PWFA: “A State shall not be immune under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution from an action in a Federal or State court of competent jurisdiction for a violation of this Act.”