Protections For Pregnant Workers And New Moms Are Coming As Part Of New Federal Government Funding – Employee Rights/ Labour Relations

Last week, while many of you were in your offices with the doors
closed, pretending to work before the holiday break, the Senate and House passed an omnibus spending package
incorporating two separate pieces of legislation to protect
pregnant workers and new moms.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Introduced in May, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act will require
employers with 15 or more employees to make reasonable
accommodations for workers affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or
related medical conditions unless the employer can demonstrate that
doing so would impose an undue hardship. It’s basically the Americans with Disabilities Act for pregnancy.
The Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission will provide examples of presumed
reasonable accommodations.

The bill also bars employers from:

• denying employment opportunities to women based on their need
  for reasonable accommodations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or
  related medical conditions;




• forcing a qualified employee to accept an accommodation other
  than any reasonable accommodation arrived at through an interactive
  process;




• requiring such employees to take paid or unpaid leave if
  another reasonable accommodation can be provided; or
  
  take adverse action in terms, conditions, or privileges of
  employment against a qualified employee requesting or using such
  reasonable accommodations.

The Act has wide-ranging support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Society for Human
Resource Management (SHRM) to the ACLU and American Federation of Labor and
Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act

Effective March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to require employers to
provide a nursing mother reasonable break time to express breast
milk after the birth of her child for up to one year after
childbirth. The amendment also requires that employers provide a
place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free
from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which an employee may
use to express breast milk. Employers with fewer than 50 employees
did not have to comply if doing so would impose an undue
hardship.

The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act provides
additional workplace protections for employees who need to express
breast milk. Specifically, it expands the requirement that
employers provide certain accommodations for such an employee to
cover salaried employees and other types of workers not covered
under existing law. (Although, employers with fewer than 50
employees still do not have to comply if doing so would impose an
undue hardship.)

Further, time spent to express breast milk must be considered
hours worked if the employee is also working. Otherwise, employees
don’t get paid if pumping on a break unless otherwise required
by Federal or State law or municipal ordinance. The bill also
extends from one year to two years the available time period for
such accommodations.

Noncompliant employers get a 10-day grace period to comply with
the required accommodations after an employee puts them on
notice.

President Biden is expected to sign the omnibus spending package
soon. So, get ready to add these new laws to your list of handbook
updates and training for 2023.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.