NWLC files an Amicus brief defending the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act provisions

On May 23, 2024, the NWLC, ACLU, and nineteen additional labor rights and gender justice organizations – including labor unions and legal advocacy organizations – filed an amicus brief defending Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulations under Pregnancy Act The Worker Fairness Act (PWFA), which clearly states that employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees to meet their pregnancy-related needs, including abortion care.

In that case, a group of states led by Tennessee sued the EEOC, attacking the PWFA’s requirement that employers provide reasonable accommodations to employees needing abortion care and asking the court to eliminate the EEOC rule altogether.

Congress enacted the PWFA to fill gaps in federal law protecting pregnant workers and to provide an express right to reasonable accommodations for workers affected by “pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions” – a term taken directly from the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA). . The EEOC regulations, which implement Congress’s intent in enacting the PWFA, recognize that abortion—which has long been covered by the PDA—is covered by the PWFA. Therefore, the law requires employers to provide reasonable abortion accommodations to employees who need them.

Our report shows that abortion is part of the full spectrum of pregnancy-related care and argues that if the court were to halt implementation of the EEOC regulations, it would defeat Congress’s intent to enforce the PWFA and harm workers. This would exacerbate existing problems that pregnant workers already face – including limited access to abortion caused by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization383 US 745 (2022) and the confusion and ignorance demonstrated by employers since the enactment of the PWFA when employees have requested accommodations to which they are entitled under the law.