Protections for Pregnant Employees Under the PDA and the ADA: EEOC’s Recent Guidelines Provide Some Clarification

On July 14, 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued updated guidance on pregnancy discrimination and related issues in the workplace. This is the first comprehensive update of the EEOC’s guidance on this subject since 1983. The guidance is meant to incorporate the current state of the law on the topic of pregnancy discrimination. The EEOC’s guidance underscores the evolving landscape of the law concerning when an employer must provide reasonable accommodations to a pregnant employee under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).