The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) is an amendment to Title VII, the major federal antidiscrimination law. Congress passed the PDA in 1978 to make clear that discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions is a form of illegal sex discrimination under Title VII. The PDA was a direct response to the case of General Electric v. Gilbert, in which the Supreme Court decided that pregnancy discrimination was not necessarily sex discrimination -- and therefore, was not necessarily illegal.
The Supreme Court's View
In the Gilbert case, the Supreme Court found that General Electric's disability program, which paid some wage replacement while employees were unable to work, did not discriminate against women, even though it didn't pay benefits for disability due to pregnancy or childbirth. The Court found that the plan did no discriminate because it offered the same benefits package to men and women. If a man and a woman both suffered the same disability, both would be covered by the plan. That only women can become pregnant didn't constitute sex discrimination because not all women do. Quoting an earlier decision on a similar issue, the Court found that the plan's exclusion of pregnancy wasn't discriminatory because the plan didn't differentiate between men and women, but between pregnant women and nonpregnant persons, who might be male or female.
Congress Responds: The PDA
The PDA undoes the Gilbert decision. The PDA states explicitly that discrimination based on sex includes discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions in any aspect of employment, including the receipt of benefits. Under the PDA, employers must treat employees who are temporarily unable to work due to pregnancy just as they treat employees who are temporarily disabled for other reasons, no better and no worse. In addition, employers may not engage in the many types of discrimination that used to occur regularly, such as firing women or requiring them to stop working when they were "showing," refusing to hire pregnant women on the assumption that they would stop working once they had a child, and so on. For more information on the PDA, see our articles on pregnancy discrimination.
The PDA also protects women from discrimination based on their potential to become pregnant. For example, an employer cannot exclude all women of childbearing years from jobs that require contact with toxic chemicals or other substances that could lead to birth defects.
Getting Legal Help
If you believe you have been discriminated against based on pregnancy, you should contact an experienced attorney right away. If you decide to file a lawsuit, you must first file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) -- and within a relatively short time frame. An attorney can assess the facts and let you know whether you have a claim worth pursuing. If you go forward, the attorney can negotiate with your employer, file the necessary paperwork, and take other steps to protect your rights.
