Workers are entitled to time off and other job accommodations for abortions under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, according to finalized federal regulations published Monday.
FILE - An exam room is seen inside Planned Parenthood on March 10, 2023, in Fairview Heights, Ill. Workers are entitled to workplace accommodations for abortions and some pregnancy-related conditions under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, according to federal regulations published Monday, April 15, 2024. pregnancy-related medical conditions
The act requires most employers with 15 or more employees to provide"reasonable accommodations" for a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions — including fertility and infertility treatments in some cases — unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship. The EEOC's regulations, which will be used as a framework to enforce the law, will go into effect on June 18.
But Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists denounced the EEOC’s inclusion of abortion after the agency first released its proposed rule in August for a monthslong public commentary period. Abortion rights proponents, meanwhile, applauded the provision as critical at time when abortion rights have been curtailed in many states following theThe EEOC is composed of three Democratic commissioners and two Republican commissioners.
The EEOC said it had received 54,000 comments urging the commission to exclude abortion from its definition of medical condition related to pregnancy, but it also received 40,000 comments supporting its inclusion. While the commission said it understood that both sides were expressing “sincere, deeply held convictions,” it cited numerous federal cases that it said supported its interpretation that abortion is a pregnancy-related condition deserving of protection.
But in order to receive workplace accommodations, pregnant women had to demonstrate that co-workers had received similar benefits for comparable needs, since the act stated only that pregnant workers must be treated similarly to other employees, not that they deserved special consideration. That put a burden of proof that many women found impossible to meet, forcing them to work in unsafe conditions or quit their jobs,, one of the most vocal advocates for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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