Building on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2022, a new rule put forth by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ensures that abortion is included on the list of protected medical conditions that may require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for workers, under the law. Typically, these reasonable accommodations include things such as modified job duties or additional rest breaks or time off to handle certain medical issues, with no penalty to the worker or their wages. In a lengthy footnote regarding the abortion decision, the EEOC explains:
The PDA [Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978] prohibits an employer from discriminating against a female employee because she has exercised her right to have an abortion … stating that the plaintiff "cannot be refused employment on the basis of her potential pregnancy" … The PDA's prohibition on discrimination against women based on their ability to become pregnant thus necessarily includes a prohibition on discrimination related to a woman's use of contraceptives.
Of course, there are some Americans — include many in positions of power! — who get off at the promise of being able to punish people, particularly women and other marginalized groups, for the crime of asserting their basic rights to autonomy. And naturally, those same people are quite upset about this ruling. If they can't punish someone for exercising their legal right to have an abortion, why then that's simply not fair to them!
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After years of relentless advocacy and sustained public pressure by residents of St. Catharines, the City has issued a sweeping Property Standards Order to the owners of the former General Motors ...