A pregnant employee walks into your office and tells you that she has a lifting restriction of twenty pounds and needs an accommodation because she can’t do her job. What do you do? In Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 575 U.S. — (Mar. 25, 2015), the Court faced this issue and was tasked with deciding whether the Pregnancy Discrimination Act requires an employer to provide work accommodations to pregnant employees with work limitations.

Peggy Young, a part-time delivery driver for UPS, became pregnant and her health care provider imposed a lifting restriction that precluded her from performing an important function of her job. Young requested an accommodation, but did not qualify for light-duty work assignment under UPS's policies - which only covered those injured on the job, who lost their Department of Transportation certification(s), or who suffered from a disability covered by the ADA – and, therefore, her request was denied. Young filed suit under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act alleging, among other things, that if UPS made accommodations for other workers it should have made accommodations for her.