Legal Challenge to PWFA Regulations by 17 States Revived by the Eighth Circuit
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which was passed in December 2022, requires a covered employer to provide reasonable accommodations for a qualified employee’s or applicant’s known limitations related to “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer’s operation of the business. In April 2024, the EEOC published its Final Rule and Interpretive Guidance (“Final Rule”) implementing the PWFA. As part of the Final Rule, the EEOC adopted a very broad interpretation of “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” to encompass current pregnancy, past pregnancy, potential pregnancy, lactation (including breastfeeding and pumping), use of contraception, menstruation, infertility and fertility treatments, endometriosis, miscarriage, stillbirth, and decisions regarding abortion, among other conditions. Shortly after the Final Rule was published, 17 state...