Pregnancy Discrimination Act Of 1978 (PDA)

Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978

History

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 was passed by the United States Congress as an amendment to the sex discrimination section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978 amended TitleVII to require that employers treat maternity leave the same as any other personal or medical leave. (Mathis, R. page 81) Title VII states that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions is a form of sexual discrimination. The PDA is closely related to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. (Mathis, R. page 81) Prior to this Act being passed, there was two cases that was open that specifically dealt with issues of discrimination

Gilbert was a female employee of General Electric. Petitioners argued that the employee disability plan was a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 simply because it excluded pregnancy related disabilities. The Supreme Court evaluated the matter and it was ruled that the disability plan did not after all violate Title VII. According to the court and their findings, gender discrimination did not really exist. They felt that it did not exist because the package was less than all-inclusive for women overall. It was discovered also by the Supreme Court that no evidence was found excluding disability benefits for pregnancy that led to the female employees having a plan of lesser value when compared to male employees of the employer. Justice Brennan argued that the disability plan did have a conflict with the purposes of the Title VIII and the court should adhere to a guideline that is established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He felt as if the EEO should offer more protection against sex discrimination than the Title VII did all together. Justice Brennan also felt that a guideline that was more protective would be beneficial in helping to reduce the many burdens that are placed on pregnant women that are a part of the workforce. Congress at this time decided to proceed with the issues at hand and passed the

The United States Supreme Court recently established the standards that all female employees that are pregnant must meet in order to file a discrimination claim under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. A claim can only be filed when the employer is providing accommodations to other employees that are not pregnant, and are not offering the same accommodations for the pregnant employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission played a significant part in this Act generating significant attention due to the aggressive position that was being taken by various employees. The EEOC claimed that any time an employer offered an accommodation to another employee with similar physical limitation, the employer had an absolute obligation to also offer the pregnant employee the exact same accommodations. This would have to be done without regard to reason the employer had provided the accommodation in one situation but not another. One case that took place was an employee that was a part time driver for UPS that had medically been advised not to lift anything that weighed more than 20 pounds during her pregnancy. Due to company policies the drivers had to be able to lift at least 70 pounds as an essential job function, UPS informed the pregnant worker that she could not work while under the restrictions. The employee filed a