Attorney General Bonta: Pregnant Workers Deserve Protections at Their Workplaces

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general in an amicus brief defending the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)’s rule to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) of 2022. Filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the amicus brief supports EEOC’s rule implementing the federal landmark legislation that requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant and postpartum employees including accommodations for abortion care. Currently, the rule is being challenged by a coalition of 17 states, led by Tennessee. 

“PWFA empowers individuals to continue contributing to our economy while providing much-needed protections without compromising their health or their family’s well-being,” said Attorney General Bonta. “At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to fight baseless attacks to this rule, which creates a fair and inclusive work environment for all.” 

Enacted in 2022, PWFA is the first federal law that requires employers to offer accommodations to employees for pregnancy-related medical conditions during the entire period from pregnancy to postpartum recovery. Such pregnancy-related conditions include fertility treatments and pregnancy loss, and accommodations include time off to recover from childbirth and time off to access abortion care. In August 2023, EEOC, the agency tasked with enforcing the Act, proposed a rule implementing the PWFA that, among many other things, required employers to provide reasonable accommodations for workers whose pregnancies are terminated by abortion – most commonly in the form of time off to attend a medical appointment or recovery. Attorney General Bonta, alongside 22 attorneys general nationwide, supported the proposed rule by submitting a comment letter.

Similar to the brief filed in district court, the attorneys general argue in the brief that PWFA provides critical and overdue protections for employees, particularly low-wage employees and employees of color who are more likely to suffer negative health outcomes during pregnancy as a result of their jobs. The multistate coalition also argues that the EEOC was correct to include termination of pregnancy – including via “miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion” – in the law’s protections for “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.” Decades of case law interpreting an identical term in the Pregnancy Discrimination Act support the EEOC’s interpretation.

In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta joins the attorneys general of New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. 

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.