What Does The PWFA Do?

The PWFA mandates reasonable accommodations to known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, thereby requiring that employers grant pregnant workers reasonable accommodations - temporary job changes needed to maintain a healthy pregnancy - unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. The PWFA statute, found at 42 U.S.C. §2000gg, is modeled largely on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including the ADA's interactive process. Many PWFA legal concepts will be familiar from Title VII - the Pregnancy Discrimination Act - and the ADA: coverage; process, relief, confidentiality of medical information, prohibitions on retaliation and coercion. Like the ADA and Title VII, the PWFA applies to private and public sector employers and is enforced in the same manner as other federal employment discrimination laws, so claims against private employers are initiated by filing a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and can lead to federal court litigation, with resulting damages, costs, and attorneys' fees. For an HR Generalist, managing these claims is essential for human resources compliance. But there are some important differences, too. For example, unlike the ADA, PWFA provides that workers temporarily unable to perform essential functions because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions can still be deemed “qualified employees“ entitled to reasonable accommodation. The PWFA also tightly limits the documentation an employer can require, far more than does the ADA, as governed by labor law. Further, the ADA's direct threat defense is not available under PWFA.