Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: How to Use the New Law to get Pregnant Workers Needed Accommodations

Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, Inc. hosted a webinar entitled "Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: How to use the new law to get pregnant workers the accommodations they need to stay safe on the job" on May 11, 2023.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) is a new federal law that clarifies employers’ obligations to provide needed accommodations to pregnant workers that will become effective on June 27, 2023.
Modeled on the Americans with Disabilities Act, the PWFA has enormous potential to ensure that pregnant workers will no longer be forced to choose between their health and their jobs.
This training from the ACLU and the Center for Work Life Law, in partnership with Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, was designed to give you tools to secure the accommodations your clients need and - when litigation is necessary - to obtain positive results.
This training introduced practitioners to the basics of the PWFA and how it interacts with Pennsylvania law to give rights to pregnant workers. Presenters will:
-Provide an overview of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the opportunities created by its passage;
-Explain the physical needs or pregnant, postpartum, and lactating workers, with emphasis on what constitutes “reasonable” accommodation for employees and an “undue hardship” for employers;
-Share best practices for counseling workers engaging in the “interactive process” to obtain needed reasonable accommodations;
-Introduce the protections afforded by the new Providing Urgent Maternal Protection (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act, which is now in effect, which expands existing federal protections for new parents who need to pump at work;
-Discuss how the PWFA interacts with other federal laws and Pennsylvania laws; and
-Answer questions about the PWFA and PUMP laws.
DISCLAIMER: Information presented here was accurate at the time of the presentation but the facts, the laws, rules, and regulations discussed may have changed since that time. This presentation was for informational purposes and is not a substitute for legal advice about the specifics of an individual’s situation.