The Supreme Court resurrected a woman’s pregnancy discrimination claim against UPS, sending the case back to a lower court Wednesday.
When she became pregnant in 2006, Peggy Young’s doctor told her not to lift anything heavier than 20 pounds for the first 20 weeks of her pregnancy. But Young’s supervisors at UPS denied her request for light duty. She was told that UPS only provided accommodations to three categories of workers: those who had been injured on the job, those who lost their Department of Transportation certification and those who have a disability as defined by the Americans with Disability Act.
UPS said its policy complied with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and that it was a pregnancy neutral policy. But Young sued, citing a section of the PDA that says employers must treat pregnant employees the same as others “similar in their ability or inability to work.” Young argued that because UPS did offer light accommodation to some employees who were similarly situated, it must offer her the same accommodation.
Young drew support from the Obama administration as well as pro-choice and pro-life groups eager to have the court clarify the scope of the law.
“This is not an isolated problem,” Judith L. Lichtman, of the National Partnership for Women & Families said after arguments. “It is a problem of very significant dimensions happening to many working women in many work places across the country,” she said.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a brief on behalf of UPS and argued that Young asked the Court to “stretch core discrimination-law principles far beyond previously settled bounds, and to subject employers to increased penalties for supposed intentional discrimination without corresponding proof.”
Two significant events occurred after the Court agreed to hear the case.
UPS, while still defending the legality of its policy, decided to voluntarily begin allowing for additional accommodations for pregnancy related physical limitations” as a matter of corporate discretion.”
And the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — a federal agency that enforced the laws against job discrimination —- issued new guidance favorable to Young.