Should the Senate Pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act?
A new bill could mean big change for moms-to-be.
On Friday, Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) introduced the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to the Senate floor. The bill, which was originally introduced in May, would “require employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers,” such as letting them sit when needed, drink water on the job and not require them to do heavy lifting. The bill also would prevent employers from “forcing women out on leave when another reasonable accommodation would allow them to continue working.”
Seems like common courtesy, right? Well, it doesn’t automatically work this way for some pregnant women. ThinkProgress cites several instances where women were fired due to pregnancy-related issues. Some examples include a retail worker in Salina, Kansas being fired because she needed to carry a water bottle to stay hydrated; a nursing home worker who needed help with some physically strenuous aspects of her job; and a delivery truck driver who was forced out on unpaid leave because she had a lifting restriction and was denied light duty.
Under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, women in these situations would have rights to have the rules modified to help them have healthy pregnancies. This bill would work in conjunction with Title VII, which protects a woman from being fired because she is pregnant, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, which establishes minimum paid maternity leave.
What do you think of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act? Do you think we need a bill like this?
Plus, more from The Bump:
How much maternity leave am I entitled to?
The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
I was forced to resign from my job as I work in an oil spill cleanup industry. Even though we rarely go to an oil spill, and we are never allowed to touch the oil or be around it as we are the ships crew not the actual clean up people, I was placed under a health restriction and told to pack my gear, turn in my keys and leave the ship. I didn’t get my medical as I was one month shy of receiving it. I had no pay without leave, and they had no other position for me where I would be protected from the toxins “we weren’t around”. I was really upset as I liked my job and the crew. Now I am fighting for my unemployment, not from the company I worked with but from unemployment themselves. They are deciding for me if I am able and available for work because I am pregnant! How is it they get to decide what I am able or not able to do? They said if they determine I am not available then I have to pay it all back. I’m really angry over this and hate people judging my abilities and telling me what I can do or can’t do. they don’t even know me! I have working in a labor industry my whole life. If you don’t have to be on unemployment its hardly worth the stress. I have been more stressed out since I got pregnant. Way too much nonsense from peoples opinions!
I hope the bill will help out and give us the chance we deserve. Of course there are changes in our abilities but we are not invalids.
Absolutely this bill needs to be passed. It’s beyond time that the United States treat their pregnant workers with respect and dignity. We are providing the future citizens of this country, without pregnancies our country would no longer exsist.
What about not being able to get a job because you are pregnant? They dont tell you that they arent hiring you because you are pregnant they just give you a pathetic excuse that makes no sense at all.
On the one hand, I agree we need this law. On the other hand, I could see this causing discrimination against women who are just married or who may be seen as possibly getting pregnant in the near future. Don’t get me wrong, we need laws like this, but there have to be negatives or the companies would have put things like this in place, and/or a law would already be passed.
Wow…. I hope this passes so the ‘States can catch up with the rest of the 1st world.
I still can’t believe you guys don’t get parental leave. In Canada we get 2 weeks of sick leave, 14 weeks maternity leave, and then the remaining 38 weeks are deemed ‘parental leave’ which can be divided between the parents as seen fit. EI pays you a portion of your wages and your employer tops you up to 95% of your current wages.
In regards to your statement “and the Family and Medical Leave Act, which establishes minimum paid maternity leave.”
FMLA doesn’t have anything to do with your pay. It just guarantees you a position within the company when you return. Not necessarily the same position you left either.
What is unfortunate is the women who take advantage of their employer because they are pregnant. Prior to my maternity leave I kept the same hours as my pre-prego state. I worked 9-10 hour days, made my doctors appointments early morning so I missed very little work, and kept my physical complaints to myself as to not disturb my fellow employees. I had extreem nausea and vomited about 3-4 times a day, but I didn’t tell anyone and did not let it affect my job performance.
A co-worker was also pregnant and she demanded a desk job, and light duty work because of her condition. We had to create a special job for her and basically pay her to do almost nothing. She threatened to sue at every opportunity if we did not accommodate her special needs. In reality she was just lazy and was using her pregnancy to get out of doing her job.
While this bill is a good idea and women need protection, there must be strick regulations and clear descriptions about what companies must do to accomodate pregnancy without loosing money.
Maybe your co-worker wasn’t lazy as you imply, but having a difficult pregnancy.
I do agree that this Bill should pass, based solely on our current societal conditions. However, if women would just get out of the workforce then we wouldn’t need laws like this.
Women should be at home raising their families, not sticking their kids in daycares for 8 or more hours a day. The whole feminist movement was just a ploy to destroy families and weaken society.
The MEN should be the ones out earning the paychecks. Mothers shouldn’t work. Period.
I hope this bill passes. I was having difficulties for the first 5 months of my pregnancy and was fired for not being able to do my retail job. then they told me i was eligible to be rehired in 30 days. If i was to go back to work 30 days after i was fired i would have been 6 months along, having the same problems but now without ins. and not able to get ins for a year after rehire.
Then i think of all the other women that i have seen go through this same thing. Being forced to quit or forced into another position that pays half of what they were making, or like me being fired. It’s like they are taking advantage of us.
I am five months pregnant and was pulled out of my home store in August and forced to.work at several locations one being a very high volume store. I was then placed in another high volume store in September and told this is where I would be. I informed the manager who didn’t know I was pregnant that the steps of the stockroom maybe a problem for me because they were two flights and I would have carry up to 25 pounds up and down the stairs each time I had a customer. I was given a form for my Dr the fill out and that was it. I was just told not to come back to work until my appt bc I can’t work without the note. I’ve been working for the last four months and no one has ever said this to me. I am wondering if this is legal
@Jinnders: we do have a sort of maternity ”system” but we have to basically earn it. Most corporations or companies require the person (because men can also qualify for paternity leave under certain circumstances) to have been employed for a certain period of time, such as one year to qualify for such leave, which I’d also where the FMLA comes into play (for job ”security” but not pay). Where I work, which is a retail mogul, one qualifies for a ”eave of absence” after 6 months but not ”maternity leave”, until 1 year. Each leave is up to 12 Weeks and can be accumulated to up to 24 Weeks, at least that is my understanding of it. Grabbed it may not be the best system, but at least we have one.
@Jewrl:: whaaaaaaaaat??????!!!!??? If one is willing and ABLE to, why wouldn’t you work? On so many levels a woman should want to work. Besides, what do you suggest to a widow who’s husband had little/no life insurance? Or the woman who decides to bear the cross of a rape or mistake? Live off welfare? Why, if she is more than willing and able to work? Should her child(ren) and she die of starvation and/or be homeless? Or burden her elderly parents with herself and her child(ren)? Again, it makes no sense for a woman to not work if she is willing and able to…..there is just no reason…..unless her husband is very well off and she doesn’t have to take another woman’s chance at employment.
Personally, I think this bill would be great. Of course there should be strict guidelines and such, being that there truly are lazy women who get pregnant and get even lazier. I worked with one. No, she wasn’t having a difficult pregnancy. She was just lazy. She was moved from cashier (a terrible one at that) to working light freight in the early morning, a 6-2 shift. She didn’t like it so announced she was going to have her IUD removed to try to get preg. Successful, unfortunately since she was 18 with a 2y.o. She couldn’t handle and an unemployed boyfriend, already on housing and every welfare imaginable, go figure. The day after she announced she was preg, she brought a note from the Dr that she couldn’t lift +10# and couldn’t stand for more than 15-30 minutes at a time. Absurd! All she did was sit and get paid, and she would refuse to check out customers and give them dirty looks when they would ask her to check them out. I ran a different dept and acted as backup cashier, but not when she was there….I was THE cashier. So yeah, strict guidelines.
At almost 7 months, I’ve gotten over a 3week bug, allergies, morning sickness that lasted AOL day and all sorts of drama. I just wish I didn’t have to do it all at a place where I am actually expendable only because of such a high turnover rate. I quit my almost 3 year job because my ex boss basically said, bad timing you’re ruining my plans. Yea, same here, but you don’t get to tell me that!