Source: NC Policy Watch
An omnibus bill signed by President Joe Biden at the end of 2022 will provide new healthcare protections for workers who are pregnant or nursing.
New measures under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act will strengthen pregnant workers’ rights and expand accommodations for those that are nursing.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires businesses with 15 or more employees to accommodate job applicants and employees who have conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth and prohibits employers from discriminating against those individuals due to their need for such accommodation.
The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act extends the right to receive break time to pump and a private place to pump at work to more employees who are nursing mothers.
“The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act is so transformational because it expands the coverage of federal laws that provide break time, and space that is not in the bathroom and has to be hygienic for breastfeeding workers,” stated Elizabeth Gedmark, vice president of A Better Balance, in an interview with States Newsroom.
According to N.C. Policy Watch, activists and supporters of the measures stated that “neither the existing Pregnancy Discrimination Act (an amendment to the Civil Rights Act) nor the Americans with Disabilities Act provided the accommodations that pregnant workers needed for a healthy pregnancy”.
The Act will go into effect in June this year.
Read more at N.C. Policy Watch
