Pregnancy Discrimination Act (US)
A 1978 amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, requiring employers to treat pregnant employees the same as other employees with similar abilities or limitations.
- What Is the Pregnancy Discrimination Act?
- What the PDA Prohibits
- Young v. UPS: The Landmark 2015 Supreme Court Case
- The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) of 2023
- State Pregnancy Discrimination Laws
- PDA and PWFA Compliance for HR Teams
- Recent Pregnancy Discrimination Enforcement Actions
- Pregnancy Discrimination Statistics [2026]
- Frequently Asked Questions About the Pregnancy Discrimination Act
What Is the Pregnancy Discrimination Act?
Key Takeaways
- ✓The PDA amended Title VII to explicitly define sex discrimination as including discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions such as morning sickness, preeclampsia, and postpartum depression.
- ✓Employers must treat pregnant employees the same as other employees who are similar in their ability or inability to work. If light duty is available for workers with injuries, it must be available for pregnant workers too.
- ✓The law applies to employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, labor organizations, and the federal government.
- ✓The PDA covers all aspects of employment: hiring, firing, pay, promotions, training, job assignments, layoffs, health insurance, leave, and fringe benefits.
- ✓The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), effective June 2023, added an explicit requirement for employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations, filling a gap the PDA didn't address.
Before 1978, employers could legally fire women for being pregnant, refuse to hire pregnant applicants, deny disability benefits for pregnancy-related conditions, and force pregnant workers to take leave at arbitrary points in their pregnancy. The Supreme Court's 1976 decision in General Electric v. Gilbert held that excluding pregnancy from disability benefits wasn't sex discrimination under Title VII. Congress disagreed and passed the PDA two years later. The PDA doesn't give pregnant workers special treatment. It requires equal treatment. The core principle is straightforward: if an employer accommodates workers who are similar in their ability or inability to work, it must extend the same accommodations to pregnant workers. A company that provides light duty for employees who injured their backs on the job must offer light duty to an employee with pregnancy-related lifting restrictions. The 2015 Supreme Court decision in Young v. UPS clarified this comparison framework and made it easier for pregnant workers to challenge employer refusals to accommodate. Then in 2023, the PWFA added a standalone right to reasonable accommodations, independent of how the employer treats other workers.
What the PDA Prohibits
The PDA's protections extend throughout the entire pregnancy timeline, from fertility treatment through postpartum recovery.
Hiring discrimination
Employers can't refuse to hire a woman because she's pregnant, might become pregnant, or has a pregnancy-related medical condition, as long as she can perform the major functions of the job. Interview questions about pregnancy plans, family planning, or childcare arrangements are risky. While not explicitly prohibited, they create evidence of pregnancy-related bias if the candidate is rejected. The EEOC treats such questions as indicators of discriminatory intent.
Forced leave and termination
Employers can't force a pregnant employee to take leave at any point during pregnancy if she's able to work. The decision to continue working belongs to the employee and her healthcare provider, not the employer. Employers can't terminate a pregnant employee because of the pregnancy, even if they frame it as a business decision. Suspicious timing (termination shortly after announcing pregnancy) creates a presumption of discrimination that the employer must rebut. Constructive discharge also applies: making working conditions so hostile that the pregnant employee feels forced to resign.
Benefits discrimination
Health insurance must cover pregnancy-related conditions on the same terms as other medical conditions. If the plan covers surgery, it must cover cesarean deliveries. If it covers hospital stays, it must cover maternity stays. Employers can't require different deductibles or copays for pregnancy-related care. Disability and sick leave policies must treat pregnancy-related disabilities the same as other temporary disabilities. If employees with broken legs receive 6 weeks of disability leave, employees with pregnancy complications receive the same.
Young v. UPS: The Landmark 2015 Supreme Court Case
This case reshaped how courts analyze PDA claims and significantly strengthened protections for pregnant workers.
The facts
Peggy Young was a UPS driver who became pregnant and received a medical restriction against lifting more than 20 pounds. UPS offered light duty to three categories of workers: those with on-the-job injuries, those with ADA-qualifying disabilities, and those who lost their DOT driving certifications. Pregnant workers didn't qualify for any of these categories, so UPS told Young to take unpaid leave. She sued under the PDA.
The ruling
The Supreme Court held (6-3) that a pregnant worker can establish a prima facie PDA case by showing she was in the protected class, sought accommodation, the employer didn't accommodate her, and the employer did accommodate others who were similar in their ability or inability to work. The burden then shifts to the employer to provide a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the different treatment. The employee can still prevail by showing that the reason is pretextual, including evidence that the employer's policy imposes a significant burden on pregnant workers and the employer's reason isn't strong enough to justify it.
Impact on employers
After Young v. UPS, employers can no longer categorically deny accommodations to pregnant workers while providing them to other employees with similar physical limitations. Many employers responded by expanding their light-duty and accommodation policies to explicitly include pregnancy-related conditions. UPS itself changed its policy to offer pregnant workers the same accommodations as workers with on-the-job injuries.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) of 2023
The PWFA filled the PDA's biggest gap by creating a standalone right to reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations.
What the PWFA requires
Effective June 27, 2023, the PWFA requires employers with 15+ employees to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship. This is modeled on the ADA framework but covers conditions that don't meet the ADA's definition of disability. Common accommodations include additional restroom breaks, modified schedules, permission to sit or stand as needed, temporary reassignment to less strenuous duties, time off for prenatal appointments, temporary suspension of certain job duties, and remote work when feasible.
How PWFA differs from the PDA
The PDA required employers to treat pregnant workers the same as other similarly limited workers, which meant that if the employer provided no accommodations to anyone, it didn't have to accommodate pregnant workers either. The PWFA changed this by creating an independent obligation. Even if the employer has no light-duty program and accommodates no other workers, it must still provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations. The employer must engage in an interactive process (similar to the ADA) to determine effective accommodations. The employer can't require a pregnant worker to take leave if another accommodation exists.
State Pregnancy Discrimination Laws
Many states have enacted laws that go beyond the PDA and PWFA, and some were ahead of federal law on accommodation requirements.
| State | Notable Provision | Coverage Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| California | FEHA requires reasonable accommodation for pregnancy; up to 4 months of pregnancy disability leave | 5+ employees |
| New York | Requires reasonable accommodation for pregnancy-related conditions; includes breastfeeding protections | 4+ employees |
| New Jersey | Law Against Discrimination covers pregnancy accommodation; 12 weeks of family leave | 1+ employees (discrimination), 30+ (leave) |
| Illinois | Pregnancy accommodation required since 2015; covers lactation accommodations | 1+ employees |
| Massachusetts | Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires accommodation and interactive process | 6+ employees |
| Connecticut | Pregnancy-related accommodation required; 16 weeks of family leave | 3+ employees (discrimination), 1+ (leave) |
PDA and PWFA Compliance for HR Teams
Practical steps to reduce pregnancy discrimination risk and ensure compliance with both federal and state requirements.
- Update your employee handbook to reflect PWFA requirements. Include a clear statement that the company provides reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related limitations and explain how employees can request them.
- Train managers on what they can and can't say or ask when an employee announces a pregnancy. Managers should express support, discuss any immediate accommodation needs, and direct the employee to HR for leave planning.
- Develop a pregnancy accommodation request process that mirrors your ADA interactive process. Document every accommodation request, the interactive discussion, and the outcome. Keep these records separate from the employee's personnel file.
- Review job postings and interview guides for pregnancy-related red flags. Remove questions about family plans, childcare, or marital status. Train interviewers to focus exclusively on job-related qualifications.
- Audit your light-duty and accommodation policies to ensure pregnant workers receive at least the same accommodations as other temporarily limited workers. If you offer light duty for on-the-job injuries, extend it to pregnancy-related restrictions.
- Track pregnancy-related complaints, accommodation requests, and outcomes. Analyze data annually for patterns that might indicate systemic bias in specific departments or under specific managers.
Recent Pregnancy Discrimination Enforcement Actions
EEOC enforcement actions illustrate how the PDA applies in real workplace situations.
| Case | Year | Issue | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEOC v. Walmart | 2020 | Store refused light duty to pregnant workers while providing it to others | $14 million settlement covering 4,000+ affected workers |
| EEOC v. 704 HTL Operating (Piggly Wiggly) | 2023 | Fired employee after learning of pregnancy | $20,000 settlement plus policy changes and training |
| EEOC v. Polaris Industries | 2020 | Forced pregnant workers into unpaid leave instead of providing accommodations | $500,000 settlement with injunctive relief |
| EEOC v. AutoZone | 2018 | Refused to accommodate a pregnant employee's lifting restrictions while accommodating non-pregnant employees | $75,000 settlement plus policy changes |
Pregnancy Discrimination Statistics [2026]
Data on the prevalence and cost of pregnancy discrimination in the US workplace.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the PDA protect employees undergoing IVF or fertility treatment?
Can I be fired while on maternity leave?
Does the PDA require employers to provide maternity leave?
Are men protected under the PDA?
What if my employer is too small for the PDA (fewer than 15 employees)?
How does the PDA interact with the FMLA?
Written by Adithyan RK