Suhaill Morales' article "Supreme Court Ruling Unclear Whether Employers Must Provide Light Duty to Pregnant Employees" was featured in Daily Business Review on April 14, 2015.
On March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Young v. UPS
opinion, ruling that an employee should have her day in court to
determine whether United Parcel Service Inc. violated the Pregnancy
Discrimination Act when it denied the employee's request for a
light-duty work accommodation when she was pregnant and restricted
from heavy lifting.
While the court's decision did not provide a bright-line rule
as to whether employers must provide light duty and other
accommodations to pregnant employees in the same manner as other
employees, it provided a framework for pregnant employees to
challenge workplace accommodation policies under Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act.
In the article, Suhaill advises employers to carefully review their accommodation policies for anything that might impose a burden on, or negatively impact, pregnant employees. Specifically, if an employer has a policy that provides accommodations or other benefits to categories of employees (where pregnancy is not one of the categories), the employer needs to ensure that it has legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons for such a policy. In order to avoid significant risks for PDA violations, it would be wise for employers to consider what potential accommodations might be made for pregnant employees.
To read the full article, please visit Daily Business Review.
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