Document Type
Article
Publication Title
California Law Review
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
Pregnant workers often need changes to their work responsibilities to stay healthy during pregnancy while earning a paycheck. Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in December 2022, entitling many workers for the first time to “reasonable accommodations” for their pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions—so long as they do not impose an “undue hardship” on their employer. The PWFA dictates that the law’s key terms, “reasonable accommodation” and “undue hardship,” should be construed as they are under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), ADA caselaw, and PWFA regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in April 2024. But what if these sources conflict? ADA caselaw frequently departs from the law’s statutory and regulatory text and is in tension with the EEOC’s new PWFA rule. These sources have produced a muddied reasonable accommodation doctrine that poses challenges for future PWFA claimants.
This Article is the first to address how the chaotic ADA doctrine will impact the PWFA’s implementation and consider how ADA caselaw should be read in concert with the PWFA rule. The Article proposes a framework for litigants and courts assessing reasonable accommodation claims under the PWFA that adapts ADA precedent to account for the PWFA’s statutory and regulatory text. The Article applies this framework to three accommodations likely to arise under the PWFA: temporary transfers, remote work, and leave. Finally, this Article demonstrates why the PWFA will often require employers to accommodate such requests, notwithstanding conflicting ADA caselaw.
Recommended Citation
Madeleine Gyory,
The Reasonable Pregnant Worker, 113 CALIF. L. REV. 1995
(2025)
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship/1683
Comments
Pregnant workers often need changes to their work responsibilities to stay healthy during pregnancy while earning a paycheck. Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in December 2022, entitling many workers for the first time to “reasonable accommodations” for their pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions—so long as they do not impose an “undue hardship” on their employer. The PWFA dictates that the law’s key terms, “reasonable accommodation” and “undue hardship,” should be construed as they are under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), ADA caselaw, and PWFA regulations issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in April 2024. But what if these sources conflict? ADA caselaw frequently departs from the law’s statutory and regulatory text and is in tension with the EEOC’s new PWFA rule. These sources have produced a muddied reasonable accommodation doctrine that poses challenges for future PWFA claimants.
This Article is the first to address how the chaotic ADA doctrine will impact the PWFA’s implementation and consider how ADA caselaw should be read in concert with the PWFA rule. The Article proposes a framework for litigants and courts assessing reasonable accommodation claims under the PWFA that adapts ADA precedent to account for the PWFA’s statutory and regulatory text. The Article applies this framework to three accommodations likely to arise under the PWFA: temporary transfers, remote work, and leave. Finally, this Article demonstrates why the PWFA will often require employers to accommodate such requests, notwithstanding conflicting ADA caselaw.