8353 research outputs found
Sort by
Time For a Copyright Remix: Learning from DJs’ Problematic Pandemic Livestreams & Reimagining a More Productive Framework for Music on Social Media
Full text link
The Federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: Statutory Requirements, Regulations, and Need (Especially in Post-Dobbs America)
Full text linkThe federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, enacted in December 2022, is landmark legislation that will help ensure workers can stay healthy through a pregnancy. It responds to the reality that pregnant workers may need small changes at work, such as permission to sit periodically, carry a water bottle, relief from heavy lifting, or reduced exposure to potentially dangerous chemicals. Workers may also need schedule modifications or leave for prenatal appointments, childbirth, or post-partum recovery, or accommodations to address medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth.
Previously, federal sex discrimination law and federal disability law sometimes required employers to provide such accommodations, but many pregnancy-related needs fell between the cracks. Both employees and employers were confused about how the requirements of those laws interacted. PWFA, passed with strong bipartisan support, provides a clear standard modeled on disability law: employers must provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, unless doing so would be an undue hardship.
This article analyzes the new federal statute’s substantive provisions in detail, as well as key legislative history, models for the statutory language, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s regulations to implement the new law. It explains the basic reasonable accommodation requirement, other substantive requirements, the likely scope of “related medical conditions,” and the remedies available if violations occur. The article also highlights how new restrictions on abortion access make PWFA even more essential. In states that have sharply curtailed abortion rights, more women are carrying pregnancies, including high-risk pregnancies, to term. PWFA is not a substitute for the autonomy to make decisions regarding reproductive health, but it can help keep pregnant workers healthy and assure they are treated with dignity and fairness
Abortion Rights Are Pregnancy Rights: Interpreting the Scope of Pregnancy-Related Medical Conditions Under Title VII
Full text linkThis article considers the scope of the protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), for “pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.” It argues that the text and purpose of the PDA support interpreting these terms broadly to reach the full range of reproductive choices related to the capacity for pregnancy. The paper will first examine the relevant history of the PDA and Supreme Court’s interpretation of the PDA’s protections. It will then review court decisions considering whether lactation, contraception, and infertility fall within the PDA and assess arguments about why the statute should be read to exclude these conditions. Finally, it will consider the rejection of nearly identical arguments in the context of abortion.
While the effects of Dobbs cannot be overstated, this paper will show that abortion-related protections in the workplace are deeply rooted in the PDA. Whether Title VII protects individuals from abortion-based discrimination does not depend on whether abortion is a constitutional right, but rather on whether abortion is considered “related” to pregnancy or the potential for pregnancy. This paper will show that courts considering this question have universally concluded that it does
