Oh baby: Pregnant Workers Fairness Act final regulations now in effect

On April 19, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published its final rule interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The newly minted regulations have finally gone into effect.

Potential obligation to temporarily suspend essential job functions?

As a reminder, the PWFA is a law that went into effect in 2023 and was designed to further protect the rights of pregnant employees. In short, it requires covered employers—generally, those covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or several other statutes—to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees or applicants when an individual has known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. An employer may avoid this obligation if it can show that such an accommodation would cause an undue hardship.

At first glance, this requirement and standard will likely look familiar to savvy HR professionals because it borrows language many are familiar with from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, a closer review reveals the new regulations require more from an employer for pregnancy accommodations. Principally, there is now potentially an obligation to temporarily suspend essential job functions for a pregnant individual.