Public employers with at least twenty-one employees must grant to an employee whose health is affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related illness the same employment benefits and privileges as those granted to other employees with similar work capacity who are not affected, including the possibility of terminating the employee or taking sick or other accumulated leave. which the employer makes available to temporarily disabled workers. Alaska Stat. § 39.20.500(a). A pregnant employee of a public employer with at least twenty-one employees may request a transfer to an appropriate position. An employer cannot fill the position with a person other than the applicant employee until the employer has offered the employee the job and the employee has declined the offer. The employer compensates an employee who receives a transfer at a rate at least equal to the lower rate adjusted by the compensation changes generally applicable to the workforce to which (1) the employee was paid immediately prior to the transfer request; or (2) the position to which the employee is transferred will be remunerated. Alaska Stat. § 39.20.520(a)-(b). The employer allows an eligible worker to take a total of 18 weeks of maternity, childbirth or adoption leave over a 12-month period; The right to leave for this reason expires one year after the birth or placement of the child. If the employee is entitled to a longer period under paragraph (a) of this section, the longer period will apply.
An eligible worker is entitled to compassionate leave (1) by reason of the pregnancy and birth of a child of the employee or the placement of a child who is not the worker`s stepson in the employee`s home for the purpose of adoption; An employer may require an employee who takes leave for compassionate reasons in accordance with this subsection to take leave in a single block of time; 39.20.500 (b) Pregnancy discrimination laws require employers to provide housing to pregnant workers who request it, as they do for any other employee with a similar illness or temporary health condition. For example, if an employer has a policy that allows employees with health conditions such as a back injury to do temporary “light work” instead of lifting heavy loads or other manual work, it must allow a pregnant woman to have “light duty” due to pregnancy restrictions. If a workplace offers employees with illnesses or disabilities provisions such as extra breaks, remote work or paid leave, the same provisions should be extended to pregnant workers or workers with pregnancy-related illnesses. Young meant that an employer who reasonably assumed employees with disabilities or imposed light duties on employees with workplace injuries was in fact required to make reasonable arrangements for pregnancy and related conditions, said Robin Shea, an attorney at Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As of May 2019, at least 25 states and five cities have passed their own laws. require employers to provide reasonable accommodation for pregnant workers. However, confusion can arise when local, state, and federal laws offer different protections. While health complications resulting from a difficult pregnancy are covered, for example, by local disability laws, several human rights laws and family leave laws may also come into play. A Better Balance offers a searchable database of laws in each state, and workers can also call 1-833-NEED-ABB or the 415-703-8276 helpline for the Center for WorkLife Law. According to the PDA, an employer that allows workers temporarily disabled to take disability leave or leave without pay must allow an employee temporarily disabled due to pregnancy to do the same.
An employer cannot isolate pregnancy-related conditions for special procedures to determine an employee`s ability to work. However, if an employer requires its employees to provide a medical certificate attesting to their capacity for work before granting leave or paying sick pay, it may require workers with pregnancy-related illnesses to produce such certificates. Employers are required to provide nursing mothers with a reasonable pause to express breast milk one year after the birth of their child, pursuant to Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. § 207) (“FLSA”). The law also requires employers to provide a place other than a bathroom for an employee to express breast milk. The law does not require that this time be compensated. Note that certain workers who are exempt from section 7 of the RSA are not affected by this amendment. Also note that the amendment is without prejudice to state laws that provide broader protection for employees (for example, paid breaks, breaks for exempt employees, or breaks beyond one year after the birth of the child). For more information on the FLSA break time requirement, see www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/nursing-mothers. The Fairness for Pregnant Workers Act “would make clear that employers are required to make reasonable arrangements for pregnancy and related conditions,” Shea said. “According to Young, many employers didn`t understand this, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had comparisons involving employers who thought they just needed to avoid discrimination against employees because of pregnancy.” If you really can`t do your regular work safely, even with accommodations, you may be able to get modified work items under EPA. Depending on how your employer treats non-pregnant workers with similar restrictions, the EPA may require your employer to reduce your workload, remove an essential function from your job, or temporarily reassign you to another position if the employer does these things for non-pregnant employees with restrictions similar to yours.