On January 30, an expansion to the New York City Human Rights
Law to include pregnancy discrimination will go into effect. Under
the new law, NYC employers with four or more employees will have a
duty to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant women and
those who suffer medical conditions related to pregnancy and
childbirth. Examples of reasonable accommodations listed in the
bill include assistance with manual labor, bathroom breaks,
disability leave for a reasonable period of time arising from
childbirth, breaks to facilitate increased water intake and
periodic rest breaks for those who stand for long periods of
time.
The Legislative Intent section of the bill suggests that when an
employee requests a reasonable accommodation in order to maintain a
healthy pregnancy, it generally is not reasonable for the employer
to place that employee on an unpaid leave of absence. Although the
New York City Commission on Human Rights and the New York courts
have not yet interpreted or applied this new law, the Legislative
Intent section suggests that employers may have a duty to
accommodate pregnant employees with medical restrictions by
providing such employees modified job duties, assistance to perform
certain job duties or alternative job duties.
An employer is required to provide such accommodations that would
permit the employee to perform the "essential requisites of
the job," unless (i) the employer is unaware that the employee
is pregnant, has given birth or has a related medical condition;
(ii) providing the accommodation will result in an undue hardship
for the employer; or (iii) the employee would not be able to
perform the essential requisites of the job even with the
accommodation.
NYC employers will be required to provide written notice of these
new pregnancy and childbirth accommodation rights to new employees
at the start of their employment and to existing employees within
120 days of the law's effective date of January 30, 2014. In
addition to providing each individual employee with written notice
of these rights, employers also should post in a conspicuous
location the poster provided by the New York City Commission on
Human Rights. The poster is available here.
Employees who believe their employers have violated the new law
will have the ability to file a claim with the New York City
Commission on Human Rights or pursue a private right of action in
court without first exhausting administrative remedies. Remedies
for violating the law include back pay, front pay, compensatory
damages, punitive damages, attorney fees and costs.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
