On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP) into law.

Passage of these laws means that this coming spring and summer will usher in an expansion of workplace protections for pregnant and nursing employees throughout the country. The PWFA, modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), will solidify pregnant employees’ right to various workplace accommodations for pregnancy. The ADA does not recognize pregnancy itself as a qualifying disability under the ADA, which has previously left a gap in protection for expecting employees that the PWFA is aimed to resolve.

PUMP will expand break time requirements for nursing mothers (currently only applicable to non-exempt workers) to exempt employees.

Key takeaways with respect to both laws are included below.

Who do these laws apply to?

• PWFA — The PWFA applies to employers with 15 or more employees and pregnant employees who can perform the necessary functions of their job, with or without accommodations.
• PUMP — PUMP applies broadly, with no absolute workforce limitation. However, employers with fewer than 50 employees are not subject to PUMP if compliance would impose an undue hardship on the business. Whether compliance would create an undue hardship is determined by looking at the difficulty or expense of compliance for a specific employer in comparison to the size, financial resources, nature, and...

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