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  • Title: Pregnancy and employment leave: legal precedents and future policy.
    Author: Gardin SK, Richwald GA.
    Journal: J Public Health Policy; 1986; 7(4):458-69. PubMed ID: 3805267.
    Abstract:
    An estimated 85% of female workers in the US become pregnant during their working lives; 62% of married US women were employed for some period during the 12 months preceding childbirth. Historically, US legislation has assumed a protectionist policy with regard to restricting prenatal and postpartum employment, yet this stance has not been backed up by protection of income, benefits, reinstatement, or seniority. The passage in 1964 of Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act banning discrimination on the basis of sex triggered a long string of legal battles fought on the premise that pregnancy is a disability. As a result of Congressional efforts, an amendment to Title VII--the Pregnancy Discrimination Act--was passed in 1978. This law requires that women disabled due to pregnancy or childbirth be provided with the same benefits as those provided other disabled employees. However, the law does not require an employer who does not provide disability benefits, paid sick leave, or medical benefits to other employees to provide them to pregnant women. A weakness of existing legislation is its failure to address the difficulties inherent in accommodating childbearing women in the labor force. Accommodation under the current employment system results in productivity disruption and financial losses for both employer and employee. In all other major industrial countries, maternity benefits such as paid leave before and after childbirth, reinstatement rights, and nursing breaks on the job are guaranteed through national legislation. Such benefits emanate from acknowledgment of women's essential participation in the labor force as well as their unique ability to give birth. Under a more flexible employment system, equal protection would not result in the denial of maternity leave to female employees, but rather the provision parental leave to male and female employees.
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