EEOC Issues New Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new Enforcement Guidance this month regarding pregnancy discrimination. This is the first comprehensive update to the EEOC’s Pregnancy Discrimination Guidance since 1983. The Guidance discusses employer practices that the EEOC considers permissible and impermissible based on its interpretation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), and Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It reiterates well-established law on pregnancy discrimination, but also arguably expands the reach of the current law by requiring accommodation of pregnancy under the PDA and ADA (as amended by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA)), and by stating that employers should treat pregnant employees in the same manner as similarly situated employees injured on the job.

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