Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. HAALAND. Madam Speaker, today we act so that women will no longer experience the fear of not knowing if they can maintain their family's financial security while they are pregnant.

As the number of women who work as the primary breadwinners in their households continues to rise, this financial insecurity rises as well.

While growing up, my mother was forced out of the Navy because she was pregnant. Although times have changed, mothers are still being forced out of their employment due to the absence of reasonable accommodations. I know first-hand the pressures of being that single source of income for my household, and I have seen how Black and Latina workers are overrepresented in low-wage, physically demanding jobs that need pregnancy accommodations for them to stay safe.

More than a decade ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act was amended to better implement the principle that physical or mental disabilities should be met with reasonable accommodations.

Pregnancy is not considered a disability under the ADA, however, enabling employers to deny reasonable accommodations like allowing pregnant employees to sit on a stool rather than stand during a long shift.

This bill would correct that, and I would like to include in the Record a letter from the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities addressed to Chairman Scott and Ranking Member Foxx in support of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

New Mexico is one of thirty states that have enacted laws to protect access to reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers so they have safe working conditions and, if they are denied that, the right to receive lost pay and compensatory damages.

Millions of pregnant workers in these states have benefited from these protections, but a pregnant employee's ability to work safely should not depend on where in this country she lives.

The Pregnant Workers' Fairness Act, which is endorsed by nearly 200 worker advocates, civil rights groups and the business community, will hold every employer in our country, across state lines, to these same standards.

As we hear horrific stories of immigrant women forced to have hysterectomies and lose their ability to have children, we are reminded that the health, safety and wellbeing of all women is not something we can turn a blind eye to, whether those women work in boardrooms, on a factory floor, or in a hospital.

I support this legislation because no expectant mother should have to risk her health or that of her unborn child to stay financially stable.

I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this historic bill. September 11, 2020. Re Support for Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, H.R. 2694. Hon. Bobby Scott, Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Scott and Ranking Member Foxx: As co-chairs of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Rights Task Force, we write in strong support of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, H.R. 2694. CCD is the largest coalition of national organizations working together to advocate for federal public policy that ensures the self-determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)'s mandate that covered employers make reasonable accommodations to ensure equal opportunity for applicants and employees with disabilities has been tremendously important in helping people with disabilities secure and maintain employment. While the ADA does not cover pregnancy itself as a disability, in light of the ADA Amendments Act, which lowered the standard for demonstrating a disability from what the courts had previously applied, many pregnant workers who experience pregnancy-related complications should be covered as people with disabilities and entitled to reasonable accommodations under the ADA. Yet many courts have continued to interpret the ADA's coverage narrowly, and in practice, large numbers of pregnant workers are not offered reasonable accommodations. Furthermore, a clear pregnancy accommodation standard will help prevent pregnancy-related complications before they arise. Such accommodations should be provided to pregnant workers so that they can remain in the workforce and not lose their employment simply because they experience pregnancy-related limitations.

The accommodation requirement of H.R. 2694 is limited, as is the ADA's accommodation requirement, to those accommodations that are reasonable and would not impose an undue hardship. That standard takes into account the needs of employers while also ensuring that pregnant workers can stay on the job with reasonable accommodations. This protection is critical not only for pregnant workers but for our national economy.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is particularly important to people with disabilities. Many people with disabilities who did not require accommodations before becoming pregnant experience new complications due to how pregnancy impacts their disabilities, and need accommodations once they become pregnant. These workers are sometimes told that they are not entitled to accommodations because the employer views the need for accommodation as related to pregnancy rather than to the worker's underlying disability.

We thank the Committee for moving the bill forward and urge all members of the House of Representatives to vote for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and oppose any motion to recommit. Sincerely, Jennifer Mathis,

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. Stephen Lieberman,

United Spinal Association. Allison Nichol,

Epilepsy Foundation, Co-chairs, CCD Rights Task Force. Kelly Buckland,

National Council on Independent Living. Samantha Crane,

Autistic Self Advocacy Network.

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