Nearly one in four mothers in a February 2022 survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center and Morning Consult said they have considered leaving a job because of a “lack of reasonable accommodations or fear of discrimination.”
(Ciphr.Com / Flickr)
Nearly one in four mothers in a February 2022 survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center and Morning Consult said they have considered leaving a job because of a “lack of reasonable accommodations or fear of discrimination.”
The new federal law, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PFWA), began requiring employers to provide pregnancy accommodations in June, if the request is “reasonable.” Macy said the PFWA can empower pregnant workers to ask for support and makes sure employers “know that they must provide those accommodations.”
Workplace supports can help protect the health of workers and any potential future children, Macey said.
“We do not have paid family and medical leave. So that is not an option for pregnant individuals who may be experiencing a situation that requires time off or accommodation,” she said. “We also have a really high infant and maternal mortality rate. And so if we're talking about 'how do we support the health of moms and babies?'’ this is one step in that direction.”
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Along with preventing health risks from job-related activity, the PFWA’s accommodation requirements could also help ensure pregnant workers have job security and the health benefits that come with that, Macey said.
Macey has interviewed several pregnant Indiana workers as part of the “Ask The Women” research project at Indiana University. She recalled the story of one woman who struggled because of “severe morning sickness.”
“I don't know enough about her employment situation to know whether or not it would have been reasonable for her to continue working,” Macey said. “But because she was placed on unpaid leave and then when that ran out, [she] lost her job, she lost her employer-provided health insurance.”
The woman lost her housing and had her car repossessed after that, Macey said.
“It can just be really damaging. So the ability to continue working while you're pregnant is really, really important to a lot of individuals,” she said. “ And so having those accommodations is really essential. So they don't put themselves in a position that's not healthy and not safe.”
The new federal law however does allow pregnant workers to sue for their rights. This is the primary method for enforcing the law against employers who discriminate or refuse to provide reasonable accommodations. The enforcement model for the PFWA is similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Setting up standards for that enforcement is partly up to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) The PFWA charged the commission with creating more specific rules to guide enforcement of the law’s broader language. That is often the case with many laws.
Sharyn Tejani is an associate legal counsels in the EOCC’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is partly responsible for rulemaking.
“Although we don't have hard data about this, there are anecdotal stories about workers who were pregnant and didn't get accommodations and continued working and had negative health outcomes,” Tejani said. “And so hopefully those will not happen anymore because these workers will be able to get the accommodations that they need.”
Adam is our labor and employment reporter. Contact him at arayes@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @arayesIPB. Abigail is our health reporter. Contact them at aruhman@wboi.org.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said Erin Macey called Indiana's pregnant worker law a win. That was incorrect. That language has been removed.
