Pregnancy Discrimination: Nursing Assistant's Case Dismissed.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
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(Editor's Note: This article is now obsolete. Federal law does require reasonable accommodation for pregnant employees.)
The US Pregnancy Discrimination Act outlaws discrimination in the workplace against women affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.
Employers are required to treat pregnant women the same as other persons not affected by pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions but similar in their ability or inability to work.
The Federal law does not require special or preferential treatment for pregnant employees, only that they be treated the same as non-pregnant employees similar in their ability to work.
The CNAs employer did adopt a policy after her termination that pregnant employees with lifting restrictions from their physicians would be given light duty as a preferential accommodation. That does not prove that the employer was guilty of discrimination.
The fact is that the CNA's employer had a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for terminating the CNA, her unacceptable attendance. That made it a moot question whether or not the employer allowed or refused a light duty accommodation on the basis of pregnancy.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MICHIGAN July 25, 2017The nursing home hired the CNA just days after she was fired from another nursing home for twice failing to call in sick before missing work.
A few months after she was hired at the new job she learned she was pregnant. Because of a previous miscarriage her physician deemed her pregnancy high-risk and restricted the CNA to light duty with no lifting of more than ten pounds for the duration of her pregnancy. The nursing homes job description for a CNA required the ability to lift a lot more than ten pounds. The nursing home's policy was to grant a light-duty exemption to the lifting requirement only to employees who were returning to work following an injury on the job. Nevertheless her supervisor placed the CNA temporarily on light duty for ten days while seeking guidance from corporate. During those ten days the CNA failed three times to show up for work or call in sick, and she was fired for that reason.
The CNA sued her former employer for pregnancy discrimination. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan dismissed the case. The Court based its ruling on the simplest and most unassailable rationale available from the facts, that the CNA failed to show up or call in three times in ten days.
The Court nevertheless also took the time to review and explain the field of pregnancy discrimination law in some detail. Employers have no obligation under Federal law to accommodate a pregnant employees medical restrictions that are at odds with the legitimate physical demands of the employee's position. If the employer gratuitously chooses to accommodate the employee's restrictions for a time, there is no obligation to continue that indefinitely. An employer's only requirement is to treat a pregnant employee the same as a non-pregnant employee. If a non-pregnant employee gets no accommodation from the employer for medical restrictions not due to an on-the-job injury, a pregnant employee is also entitled to no accommodation, pregnancy being something other than an injury on the job.
Turner v. Hartford, 2017 WL 3149143 (E.D. Mich., July 25, 2017).More references from nursinglaw.com
http://www.nursinglaw.com/pregdiscrim4.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/pregdiscrim.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/pregnancy-discrimination-medical-restrictions.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/pregwork.htm