Compliance Stuff

[co-author: Leah Shepherd] March is Women’s History Month, lending itself to a review of the lessons learned over the last three years since enactment of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). While the guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides some insight, employers regularly face accommodation requests falling within areas of lingering ambiguity . There are, however, some recent enforcement actions that may provide some clarity for navigating unchartered waters. Quick Hits The PWFA mandates that covered employers provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions. Since the PWFA went into effect, the EEOC has initiated several lawsuits alleging violations, focusing on failure to accommodate, unlawful termination, and forced leave for pregnancy-related conditions . Most have resulted in settlements, while others remain pending. The EEOC received 2,729 charges of discrimination alleging violation of the P...

  New York City employers are reminded that they are now required to physically and electronically post a copy of their written lactation accommodation policy. As we previously reported , Local Law 109 – which became effective on May 8, 2025 – amends the New York City Human Rights Law’s existing obligations on employers to implement and distribute a written lactation accommodation policy.  The amendment requires that employers both distribute the written policy to employees “at the commencement of employment,” as well as make the policy “readily available to employees by, at a minimum, conspicuously posting such policy at an employer’s place of business in an area accessible to employees and electronically on such employer’s intranet, if one exists.” In addition, the amendment incorporates the recent  change to New York State law  requiring the first 30 minutes of each lactation break be paid.  The amendment requires that a compliant lactation accommo...