Employers Must Accommodate Pregnant Employees the Same as Non-Pregnant Employees
The Supreme Court addressed an employer’s duty to accommodate pregnant employees in Young v. UPS. In short, the Court held that employers must accommodate pregnant employees the same way the employer accommodates non-pregnant employees.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (“PDA”), prohibits discrimination against pregnant employees, but does not specifically require reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees. However, it does require employers to treat “women affected by pregnancy . . . the same for all employment-related purposes . . . as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.” 42 U. S. C. § 2000e(k).
Supreme Court Rule: Young v. UPS
In Young, the plaintiff was a UPS driver when she became pregnant, and requested a light duty accommodation to limit her lifting. UPS did not accommodate her. At the time, UPS provided light duty work as an accommodation to employees who (1) were injured on the job; (2) had disabilities and were entitled to accommodations under the ADA; or (3) lost their CDLs due to medical condition or injury. The Supreme Court stated that a “plaintiff may reach a jury on this issue by providing sufficient evidence that the employer’s policies impose a significant burden on pregnant workers, and that the employer’s ‘legitimate, nondiscriminatory’ reasons are not sufficiently strong to justify the burden, but rather-when considered along with the burden imposed-give rise to an inference of intentional discrimination. A Plaintiff may show that a significant burden exists by providing evidence that the employer accommodates a large percentage of nonpregnant workers while failing to accommodate a large percentage of pregnant workers. Using UPS as an example, the plaintiff showed that UPS accommodates most nonpregnant employees with lifting limitations while categorically failing to accommodate pregnant employees with lifting limitations.
Lesson to Employers
The lesson in Young v. UPS, is that employers may discriminate against pregnant employees if they fail to accommodate a pregnant employee when they provide similar accommodations to non-pregnant employees.
