Joint Statement by Co-Sponsors of Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Responding to Rep. Walberg’s Pregnant Workers Bill

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-3), Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-14), Congresswoman Susan Davis (CA-53), and Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11), co-sponsors of the PREGNANT WORKERS FAIRNESS ACT, released the following statement in response to Congressman Tim Walberg’s Pregnant Workers bill:

“No woman should have to choose between a healthy pregnancy and a paycheck. The only way to guarantee that never happens is to pass the Pregnant Worker’s Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires employers to provide an accommodation to all pregnant employees unless it poses an undue hardship to the employer.

“Representative Walberg’s Pregnancy Discrimination Act Amendments Act introduced on Wednesday will not achieve that goal. The bill makes minor, confusing changes to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, a 35-year-old law which courts have interpreted to mean that if an employer treats their non-pregnant employees well, they must treat pregnant employees the same way. But if they treat their non-pregnant employees terribly, they have the right to treat their pregnant workers terribly as well. Rep. Walberg’s bill does little to change that framework and could actually make it worse. It fails to ensure women can stay on the job while they are pregnant and fails to provide employers the certainty they need.

“Under the guise of helping women, the Walberg bill simply creates more confusion for employees and exposes employers to additional litigation risk. It continues to make pregnancy accommodation an issue of discrimination; a pregnant worker must identify other employees who are disabled and received accommodations in order to prove she should also be accommodated. But if the employer accommodates no one, the pregnant worker is out of luck. The bill wrongfully assumes that every woman has perfect knowledge about every other employee in her company and unlimited time to identify these other workers, make her request, and receive an accommodation. Unfortunately, for most women, particularly women with limited bargaining power, women who are new on the job, or women in low-wage jobs, that requirement effectively blocks them from ever receiving an accommodation.

“The Walberg bill would actually make it harder for women to get accommodations by narrowing the field of workers to whom they can compare themselves. The other employee must be in “similar working conditions” and must also be similar in their “temporary ability” to work. But the bill does not define those terms. What constitutes similar working conditions? If another employee works on the second floor and the pregnant worker is on the third floor, can they still be compared? How long must a temporary disability last to be comparable to pregnancy? Nine months? Two months? One year? Under this scheme, pregnant workers have no clear path to accommodation and employers have no clear understanding of their responsibilities.

“As we have said many times before, it does not have to be this complicated. Under the PWFA, if you’re pregnant, you get an accommodation. No comparing workers or deciding what counts as discrimination. No new or confusing terms to trip up the courts or lead to lengthy, expensive litigation. The PWFA creates an affirmative duty to accommodate pregnant women unless the accommodation imposes an undue hardship on the employer. The PWFA uses the same language as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and 25 years of ADA court decisions tell us exactly what this language means. Employers know just what to expect, and, most importantly, pregnant women know they will be protected.

“Today, women make up nearly half of the American workforce. Working women’s salaries are critical to their families’ economic security, and, in this economy, no woman can afford to lose her job—that is especially true when she has a new baby on the way.  While many women can and do work throughout their pregnancy without any job modifications, those who cannot do so should be able to request and receive reasonable adjustments to work duties. They should not have to prove discrimination and they should not be forced out on leave unnecessarily or fired. No woman should have to choose between a healthy pregnancy and a job.

“The only way to make sure no one faces that choice is to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. We urge all of my colleagues to join the over 150 cosponsors of PWFA, and not to be misled by the Walberg bill that pretends to, but is carefully designed not to actually deal with this problem.”

Rep. Jerrold Nadler

Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott

Rep. Carolyn Maloney

Rep. Jackie Speier

Rep. Susan Davis

Rep. Marcia L. Fudge

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