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Today, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), announced they are leading 123 members of Congress in filing an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court on behalf of Peggy Young and to urge the Court to reverse a lower court decision, which the lawmakers believe misinterprets existing law – the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). In Ms. Young’s case, Young v UPS, she argues that she was discriminated against in the workplace when her employer refused to provide modifications to her job that would have allowed her to continue working during her pregnancy, even though similar modifications were routinely provided to other employees with similar ability or inability to work.
Nadler, Casey, and Shaheen are authors of legislation, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which would strengthen the right of pregnant workers to request reasonable accommodations during their pregnancy without fear of retribution. Currently, pregnant working women around the country are being denied simple adjustments – permission to use a stool while working a cash register, or to carry a bottle of water to stay hydrated, or temporary reassignment to lighter duty tasks – that would keep them working and supporting their families while maintaining healthy pregnancies. The legislation would close legal loopholes and ensure that pregnant women are treated fairly on the job. According to 2011 U.S. Census Data, 62 percent of pregnant women and new moms ages 16 to 50 were members of the U.S. workforce.
In the brief to the Supreme Court, the lawmakers wrote, “The Fourth Circuit ignored the unambiguous mandate of the PDA requiring employers to consider only the ability or inability to work in determining a pregnant worker’s entitlement to benefits and considered additional factors not permitted by the PDA. In so doing, it judicially erased the protection Congress intended to provide by enacting the ‘ability or inability to work’ standard.” They added, “Once employers are permitted to narrow the class of potential comparators by considering the source or legal categorization of the inability to work, they will be able to justify denying pregnant workers benefits available to others.”
The brief continued, “The legislative history of the PDA clearly reflects Congress’s intention to protect pregnant workers by defining the sole factor employers may use to distinguish between pregnant workers and others in deciding whether to extend benefits in employment as one that is based on the ability or inability to work. Further, [we] submit this brief to make clear that nothing in the PWFA or the fact it has been proposed implies that the Fourth Circuit decision is anything other than an inappropriate judicial rewriting of unambiguous statutory language.”
Young v. UPS
According to Ms. Young’s case, accommodations were routinely given to workers with temporary injuries, but when Peggy Young asked for an accommodation to comply with her doctor’s recommendation that she not lift boxes over 20 pounds, her employer denied the request – because she was pregnant. Ms. Young challenged her employer in court alleging that her employer violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act by not allowing her to work with a reasonable accommodation through her pregnancy.
Unfortunately, Peggy Young lost her case in the lower courts, with the 4th Circuit finding that UPS’s policy of accommodating workers with disabilities, workers injured on the job, and workers who had lost their commercial driver’s licenses, was a pregnancy-blind rule that did not violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)
The PWFA would secure the right of a pregnant worker to ask for a reasonable accommodation in the workplace without fear of retribution. Today, women make up nearly half of the labor force, and three-quarters of women entering the workforce will be pregnant and employed at some point in their careers.
Currently, pregnant working women around the country are being denied simple adjustments – permission to use a stool while working a cash register, or to carry a bottle of water to stay hydrated, or temporary reassignment to lighter duty tasks – that would keep them working and supporting their families while maintaining healthy pregnancies. The legislation will close legal loopholes and ensure that pregnant women are treated fairly on the job.
Some states have passed laws like the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to ensure that pregnant workers have on-the-job protections, but millions of women are vulnerable to this type of workplace discrimination.
House signers (99)
1. Nancy Pelosi
2. Steny H. Hoyer
3. Jerrold Nadler
4. Diana DeGette
5. Louise McIntosh Slaughter
6. John Conyers, Jr.
7. George Miller
8. Elijah E. Cummings
9. Robert A. Brady
10. Karen Bass
11. Ami Bera
12. Suzanne Bonamici
13. Corrine Brown
14. Julia Brownley
15. Lois Capps
16. Tony Cárdenas
17. Matt Cartwright
18. Kathy Castor
19. Donna M. Christensen
20. Judy Chu
21. David N. Cicilline
22. Katherine Clark
23. Yvette D. Clarke
24. Steve Cohen
25. Jim Cooper
26. Joseph Crowley
27. Susan A. Davis
28. Peter A. DeFazio
29. John K. Delaney
30. Rosa L. DeLauro
31. Suzan K. DelBene
32. Theodore E. Deutch
33. Donna F. Edwards
34. Keith Ellison
35. Anna G. Eshoo
36. Elizabeth H. Esty
37. Chaka Fattah
38. Bill Foster
39. Lois Frankel
40. Marcia L. Fudge
41. John Garamendi
42. Raúl M. Grijalva
43. Luis Gutiérrez
44. Janice Hahn
45. Alcee L. Hastings
46. Colleen W. Hanabusa
47. Brian Higgins
48. Michael M. Honda
49. Jared Huffman
50. Steve Israel
51. Sheila Jackson Lee
52. Hakeem S. Jeffries
53. Henry C. "Hank" Johnson
54. Marcy Kaptur
55. Joseph P. Kennedy, III
56. Ann McLane Kuster
57. Barbara Lee
58. Sander M. Levin
59. Zoe Lofgren
60. Nita M. Lowey
61. Michelle Lujan Grisham
62. Carolyn B. Maloney
63. Doris O. Matsui
64. Betty McCollum
65. Jim McDermott
66. James P. McGovern
67. Jerry McNerney
68. Grace Meng
69. Gwen Moore
70. James P. Moran
71. Grace F. Napolitano
72. Richard M. Nolan
73. Eleanor Holmes Norton
74. Bill Pascrell, Jr.
75. Ed Perlmutter
76. Gary Peters
77. Scott H. Peters
78. Chellie Pingree
79. Mark Pocan
80. Jared Polis
81. Charles B. Rangel
82. Lucille Roybal-Allard
83. Bobby L. Rush
84. John P. Sarbanes
85. Jan Schakowsky
86. Adam B. Schiff
87. Allyson Y. Schwartz
88. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott
89. José E. Serrano
90. Carol Shea-Porter
91. Jackie Speier
92. Eric Swalwell
93. Mark Takano
94. Paul Tonko
95. Niki Tsongas
96. Chris Van Hollen
97. Nydia M. Velázquez
98. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
99. Henry A. Waxman
Senate signers (24)
1. Robert P. Casey, Jr.
2. Jeanne Shaheen
3. Tammy Baldwin
4. Mark Begich
5. Richard Blumenthal
6. Barbara Boxer
7. Sherrod Brown
8. Benjamin L. Cardin
9. Christopher A. Coons
10. Richard J. Durbin
11. Al Franken
12. Tom Harkin
13. Mazie K. Hirono
14. Tim Kaine
15. Patrick Leahy
16. Joe Manchin III
17. Edward J. Markey
18. Christopher S. Murphy
19. Jeff Merkley
20. Patty Murray
21. Barbara A. Mikulski
22. Harry Reid
23. Brian Schatz
24. Charles E. Schumer
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