Rachel Lerner
Tue,08/15/2023
On August 7, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The PWFA expands workplace protections to pregnant workers and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions.
After a law goes into effect, a federal agency is generally tasked with issuing regulations to implement the law and enforce its protections. Here, the EEOC is required to issue regulations to implement the PWFA by December 29, 2023. The first step in implementing regulations is issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which sets out the proposed regulations and solicits comments from the public.
The proposed rules implementing the PWFA define how the EEOC will interpret several terms in the Act, including “essential functions” and “reasonable accommodations.” These terms will be defined similarly to how they are defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act. The rule sets out specific prohibited acts, and lays out procedures for enforcement. Additionally, the proposed rule provides numerous examples of possible reasonable accommodations and seeks input from the public on whether there should be more examples and for what additional different situations. The public has until October 10, 2023 to submit comments.
If you believe that you have experienced workplace discrimination or have been denied a reasonable accommodation, please contact us at info@mselaborlaw.com.
