As part of funding the federal government on December 29, 2022, by way of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, President Biden signed a new employment discrimination law that will be effective on June 27, 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
This new anti-discrimination law requires US employers to provide reasonable accommodations to address their employee's limitations related to "pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions," except if such accommodations would constitute an "undue hardship on the operations of the business" of the employer.
If employers had any doubt, they should immediately and proactively adjust their policy manuals and spell-out how covered employee(s) can request to engage in the "interactive process" where such employee(s) can help to identity reasonable accommodations that would allow them to otherwise perform their essential functions of their job.
Make no mistake, the new law makes clear that employers cannot require covered employees to take leave, even paid leave, if a reasonable accommodation is otherwise available.
Moving forward, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions no longer need to constitute a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act for an accommodation to be statutorily required to be made available to employees throughout the United States.
