Supreme Court to decide: is pregnancy a temporary disability?

In early December, the Supreme Court began listening to arguments regarding whether employers should be required to include pregnancy in their coverage for short-term disabilities. The case was brought by Peggy Young, a Maryland woman who had been working as a UPS driver for four years, but lost her job when she became pregnant. Prior to her termination, she received a doctor’s note that said she should not lift more than 20 pounds during the course of her work, and was told by UPS that they could not give her alternative “light duty” work. However, during Young’s normal day-to-day work, she rarely needed to lift over 20 pounds, and co-workers were always available to assist her with heavy lifting if necessary. The last time the Supreme Court heard a case like this was in 1976, and its ruling was that employers had the right to not include pregnancy in their disability policies, without it being considered gender discrimination. However, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission now protects against pregnancy discrimination in the “hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions … and any other term or condition of employment.” This is based on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which was passed in 1978; likewise, certain conditions brought on by pregnancy may also be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which has been interpreted in the past to include pregnancy as a temporary disability. Lawyers for UPS intend to use the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in their argument, as UPS’ general policy is not to make accommodations for disabilities that do not occur at the workplace, and therefore is not specifically discriminating against Young for being pregnant, but rather, terminated her for not being able to fulfill the duties of her job description. However, UPS did change its policy on pregnancy accommodations in light of Young’s case going to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Young’s attorney says that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act is intended to ensure that pregnant women are given the same opportunities as other workers who are temporarily unable to fulfill job descriptions, as in the case of other UPS drivers who had their licenses suspended temporarily. photo credit: David Guo’s Master via photopin cc]]>