Fri, 03/26/2021
With the reintroduced Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) (HR 1065) currently making its way through the House and expected to be signed into law later this year, the rights of pregnant women in the workplace are in the national spotlight. In fact, just this past month, on March 9, 2021, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed a New Jersey state law protecting similar rights for pregnant and breastfeeding employees.
In Delanoy v. Township of Ocean, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the New Jersey Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (NJPWFA) does not allow employers to maintain disparate employment policies on a basis of pregnancy. In the Township of Ocean’s Police Department, there were two important differences in their employment policies for pregnant employees. First, the “Maternity SOP” required the projected return date to full duty be no more than 45 calendar days past the expected delivery date. By contrast, under the “Light Duty SOP,” which applied to everyone else, the doctor’s projected return date for the employee controlled. Second, pregnant employees were absolutely required to exhaust their accumulated leave before being assigned to light duty, whereas everyone else could obtain a waiver from the police chief. The New Jersey Supreme Court decision ruled that both of these practices violated the NJPWFA, in an important victory for the rights of pregnant and breastfeeding employees across the state.
Hopefully, the federal PWFA will soon extend the same—and other—protections to pregnant and breastfeeding employees across the country later this year. If you have any questions about developments in the law on this topic, or if you would like to discuss whether your employer has unfairly discriminated against you on the basis of your pregnancy or disability, please contact us at info@mselaborlaw.com.
