AGs Fitch and Murrill file suit to promote strong accommodations for pregnant workers while respecting pro-life state laws

(Miss. Atty General) Attorneys General Lynn Fitch (Mississippi) and Liz Murrill (Louisiana) filed suit yesterday challenging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) attempt to hijack the protections of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to promote the Biden Administration’s effort to impose a national abortion regime.

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was a bipartisan effort to help women in the workplace while they are pregnant and following childbirth,” said Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “But the Biden Administration is threatening to derail commonsense measures, like adequate seating, bathroom and water breaks, and relaxed dress codes, by reading into the law required accommodations for elective abortion, even where that overrides the will of the people or the religious liberty of the employer. This Administration will stop at nothing to undo the Dobbs decision, which gave the people back their power over abortion policymaking, and to impose a national abortion regime.”

 

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was originally a bipartisan law passed by Congress to support mothers. This new action by the EEOC is another example of bureaucrats rewriting acts of Congress to their own liking, and it’s unconstitutional. We will continue to challenge this administration’s overreach and protect pregnant women,” said Attorney General Liz Murrill.

 

In their suit, the Attorneys General explain how the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act fills a gap between the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to offer affirmative accommodations to workers experiencing qualifying disabilities; and the Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides unpaid extended leave for a serious health condition, such as pregnancy or childbirth, for qualified employees. 

 

The new law was supported by a broad coalition of organizations, including pro-life groups like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which stated that the law would advance its “goal of ensuring that no woman ever feels forced to choose between her future and the life of her child while protecting the conscience rights and religious freedoms of employers.” During debate on the law, Senator Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania) specifically rejected the position the EEOC has embraced in this rule when he stated, “under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the [EEOC] could not – could not – issue any regulation that requires abortion leave, nor does the act permit the EEOC to require employers to provide abortions in violation of State law.”

 

The complaint, which can be read here, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.