California law has long prohibited workplace discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. Now Governor Davis has expanded the law by inking new legislation that lets a pregnant worker sue if you refuse to grant a reasonable accommodation request.
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New Obligations For Employers
Existing California law limits your obligation to accommodate pregnant employees to providing a transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous positio – if reasonable and medically necessary. But the law is unclear about whether you have to modify a worker’s existing duties.
Under the new law which goes into effect on January 1, 2000, if a pregnant employee asks for a reasonable accommodation that her health care provider says is medically advisable, you must try to grant the request. This law applies to any employer with five or more employees and protects all full- and part-time pregnant workers regardless of how long they’ve been employed.
How To Comply
Here are some general guidelines for implementing the new law:
- Think of the pregnant worker’s request as an ADA accommodation. Apply your policies for accommodating disabled workers under the Americans with Disabilities Act to pregnancy situations. Carefully review the person’s job description and analyze whether, with a reasonable accommodation, she can perform the essential job functions.
- Determine what’s reasonable. Depending on the circumstances, an accommodation could involve shifting some of the employee’s nonessential responsibilities to other workers or, for example, allowing her to take extra rest breaks or sit instead of standing while on the job. And you are still required to provide pregnant employees with a requested transfer if it¹s medically advisable and reasonable. But you don’t have to create a new job, bump another employee or violate a union contract in order to accommodate a pregnant worker.
- Comply with medical certification rules. You can require pregnant workers to provide medical certification of the need for a requested accommodation if this is your procedure for all temporarily disabled employees. But you can only ask for certification of the following: the date on which the accommodation became medically advisable; how long the accommodation will probably be needed; and a statement that the accommodation is medically advisable because of pregnancy.
Review Your Pregnancy Policies
Handling workplace pregnancy issues can be tricky, and pregnancy bias lawsuits have historically been costly for employers. So it’s important to update your policies in light of this new law. It¹s also a good time to review your other policies about pregnant workers, especially those covering pregnancy leave and the employee’s right to return to work. For more details, contact the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing at (800) 884-1684.