Like most others, all day every day I am inundated with emails. From the most important (hello, clients!) to the least (no, I won’t send you iTunes gift cards), it’s a constant – all day every day.

Lately, one of the entities cluttering my inbox has been the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC likes to publish and transmit press releases concerning matters of significance – regulations proposed, verdicts obtained, settlements reached, etc.

I am used to receiving a certain number of these per day, but in recent weeks, it’s been difficult not to notice a trend: the EEOC is really pushing enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).

We’ve covered the PWFA before at RKW (see here and here) as it has been implemented. We are now in the enforcement stage with the EEOC beginning to file lawsuits alleging PWFA violations. I can’t help but be struck by just how avoidable some of the alleged violations I’m reading about are:

• In EEOC v. Polaris Industries, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the EEOC filed a lawsuit alleging that the employer maintained a “no-fault” attendance policy and refused to excuse an employee’s absences for pregnancy-related conditions and medical appointments. The employee resigned because of the cumulation of “attendance points” against her based on her pregnancy-related absences. The Lesson: All absences are not created equal, and employers must eliminate the mindset that they are. The PWFA is only one of the most recent federal laws that protects certain workplace absences, joining the FMLA and ADA, and state and local laws as well.
• In EEOC v. Urologic Specialists of Oklahoma, Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, the employer refused to guarantee that, after giving birth, the employee would be given breaks to express breast milk. She was terminated when she would not return to work without those guaranteed breaks. The Lesson: Protections for pregnant employees extend after giving birth as well. Employers are obligated to provide breaks (and clean, non-restroom areas) to nursing mothers after their return to work.
• Finally, in a case close to home, the EEOC filed suit against a Baltimore County commercial nursery. The EEOC alleges that the pregnant worker requested maternity leave with the expectation she would resume employment after giving birth, but, upon her return, she was told no new work was available. Meanwhile, the employer hired new, non-pregnant employees before and after her attempted return. The Lesson: Pregnancy (and childbirth) cannot be held against your employees. Telling an employee no work is available, but hiring thereafter, isn’t slick; it’s asking to be put in a press release.

If your business is struggling with accommodating pregnant members of your workforce, be sure to contact an RKW employment attorney to stay out of the news.

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