What Virginia employers need to know about new pregnancy protections

During its 2020 legislative session, the Virginia General Assembly passed a slew of measures providing employees with new and expanded workplace protections while also enhancing the mechanisms by which they can pursue claims against their employers for violating the newly enacted laws. Easily lost in these new sweeping measures are the recently strengthened prohibitions on discrimination in the workplace based on pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions.

The Virginia Human Rights Act, similar to federal law, has long prohibited terminating employees based on pregnancy and “childbirth or related medical conditions.” The new legislation, known as the Virginia Values Act (VVA), goes much further, however, specifically allowing an employee to sue for discrimination related to the conditions and requiring accommodations akin to the process under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Who is covered by the VVA and employee’s right to sue?

The VVA applies to all employers with five or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year.

The VVA grants employees an independent right to sue their employers in state court for discrimination or failure to reasonably accommodate their pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions. For example, if you refuse to allow an employee who has been on maternity leave to return to her previous or equivalent position with equal seniority, pay, and other benefits, you may be found to have engaged in an “adverse action” against the employee.