United States: Take A Pregnant Pause – Florida Supreme Court Rules That Florida Civil Rights Covers Pregnancy Bias

Florida's Supreme Court has ruled that Florida's Civil Rights Act ("FCRA"), which includes gender bias, includes pregnancy discrimination.

What the FCRA Provides

The FCRA provides that it is unlawful for an employer to "discriminate . . . because . . . of . . . sex."  Fla. Stat. § 760.10.

Florida Supreme Court Decision

The Florida Supreme Court determined that the FCRA bar on discrimination based on sex included discrimination based on pregnancy, since pregnancy is a "natural condition and primary characteristic unique to the female sex."   Indeed, as the Court noted, because only women can become pregnant, the condition is one of the obvious and significant distinctions between the sexes.  Accordingly, for this reason, "discrimination based on pregnancy is in fact discrimination based on sex."

Furthermore, the Court found that the FCRA should be interpreted to include pregnancy discrimination since the FCRA stated statutory purpose provides for liberal interpretation of the Act. Fla. Stat. § 760.01.

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