About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

36 Women's Rts. L. Rep. 36 (2014-2015)
Ability Means Ability: An Ability-Centric Interpretation That Reinvigorates the Pregnancy Discrimination Act's Protections for Pregnant Workers

handle is hein.journals/worts36 and id is 40 raw text is: ABILITY MEANS ABILITY: AN ABILITY- CENTRIC INTERPRETATION THAT REINVIGORATES THE PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION ACT'S PROTECTIONS FOR PREGNANT WORKERS Jessica Bergin* I. INTRODUCTION The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA)' is an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The PDA has two mandates to prevent pregnancy discrimination in employment.2 Its first clause explicitly extends Title VII sex discrimination protections to pregnant employees by prohibiting employers from taking an adverse employment action because of the employees' pregnancy or related conditions.3 Additionally, the PDA's second clause mandates that pregnant employees be treated the same for all employment-related purposes ... as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.4 The United States Courts of Appeals have had substantial difficulty interpreting and applying the PDA. While the PDA's first clause is a straightforward pregnancy discrimination prohibition, much like the race, color, religion, sex, and national origin discrimination prohibitions in Title VII,5 the courts disagree over the second clause's meaning. This statutory interpretation dispute centers on whether the second clause requires that employers treat pregnant women with workplace restrictions the same as: (1) any other similarly restricted employee (the ability-centric interpretation) or (2) any other employee with similar restrictions that were caused by a non-occupational condition (the cause-centric interpretation). . J.D. Harvard Law School, 2015; B.A. Cornell University, 2011. Thank you to Professor Benjamin Sachs for all of your advice and encouragement. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k) (2012). 2 See id 3 See id. (The terms 'because of sex' or 'on the basis of sex' include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.). 4 Id. (emphasis added). 5 Compare id (prohibiting pregnancy discrimination), with 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(l) (prohibiting race, color, religion, sex, and national origin discrimination).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most