As part of the omnibus spending bill, Congress signed into law the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (the PUMP Act) on December 29, 2022. These two pieces of federal legislation expand and clarify the rights and accommodations of pregnant and nursing employees in the workplace.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)

The PWFA takes effect June 27, 2023. It applies to employers with 15 or more employees and will require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship for the employer. The PWFA was modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); as such, the accommodation process will largely mirror the process under the ADA for individuals with disabilities, including the requirement to arrive at an accommodation through an interactive process with the employee. Unlike the ADA, however, accommodations under the PWFA are likely to be temporary, so they will arguably be easier to implement and potentially make it harder for employers to claim undue hardship.

Finally, the PWFA contains an anti-retaliation provision, which prohibits employers from discriminating against an employee because such employee has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by the PWFA or because the employee made a charge, testified, assisted or...

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