05/15/2023 10:00 AM EDT
PONDERING PREGNANCY PROTECTIONS: Enhanced protections for pregnant workers passed as part of last year’s omnibus spending deal goes into effect in less than 45 days.
The legislation, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, requires businesses with 15 or more employees to provide “reasonable accommodations,” such as additional bathroom breaks or modified work duties, for workers who are limited by “pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions.” The law expands upon previous protections enshrined in the decadesold Americans With Disabilities Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.
But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is tasked with enforcing the law, has yet to unveil proposed regulations governing how it will apply the PWFA.
That almost certainly means it won’t happen by the law’s June 27 start date, though Congress gave the EEOC until late December to finalize those rules.
Draft regulations have begun circulating for commissioner review within the past month, according to an EEOC source with knowledge of the situation. But the EEOC cannot move forward with rulemaking unless a majority of commissioners — currently split 2-2 between Democratic and Republican appointees with one vacancy — vote to do so, and partisan divisions has bogged down operations for the entirety of the Biden administration.
In the meantime the EEOC has put out an FAQ outlining...
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