On September 10, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the first-ever lawsuit under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The EEOC filed suit in the Western District of Kentucky claiming Wabash National Corporation violated the PWFA in failing to make pregnancy-related accommodations for an employee working as an assembly line worker. The EEOC’s claim further alleges the employee was offered only unpaid leave as an accommodation for her pregnancy while other temporarily disabled, non-pregnant employees were offered “light duty” which included, among other things, administrative work and inventory management.
In September, the EEOC subsequently filed two additional lawsuits under the PWFA against Polaris Industries, Inc. and Urologic Specialists of Oklahoma, Inc.
On September 25, 2024, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Polaris, the well-known manufacturer of off-road and other vehicles, in the Northern District of Alabama. In filing suit, the EEOC alleged Polaris violated the PWFA in refusing to excuse an employee’s pregnancy-related absences. Further, the EEOC contended Polaris assessed attendance points against the employee, required the employee to work overtime against her doctor’s orders, and threatened to terminate the employee if she incurred another attendance point. To avoid termination and protect her pregnancy, the employee resigned.
The EEOC filed another lawsuit on September 25, 2024, against Urologic Specialists in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The EEOC claimed an employee of Urologic was in the final trimester of her high-risk pregnancy when her doctor advised her to needed to sit, take breaks, or work part-time to protect her health. Instead of allowing these modifications, Urologic required the employee to take unpaid leave and further refused to guarantee the employee she would be allowed breaks to pump breastmilk upon her return to work after giving birth. After stating she would not return to work without these guaranteed breaks, the employee was terminated.
The PWFA, previously detailed in publications by this firm, requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees on the basis of “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.” With the expected litigation of these lawsuits, courts will start to provide guidance for employers about compliance with the PWFA.
The full PWFA can be viewed in the Code of Federal Regulations, here.
