Pregnant workers in Pennsylvania still lack adequate statewide workplace protections.
Starting this month, women in Connecticut and Nevada have stronger legal protections if they need reasonable workplace accommodations while they are pregnant or nursing.
These two states, like twenty-one others across the country, have each passed a law that explicitly grants pregnant and nursing women the right to pregnancy and lactation accommodations at work, and those laws went into effect on October 1.
Meanwhile, many pregnant and nursing women in Pennsylvania remain vulnerable, as similar bills languish in the state legislature.
The Pennsylvania Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (HB 1583, sponsored by Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland) would explicitly grant Pennsylvania women the right to reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, and the Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act (HB 1685, sponsored by Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-Montgomery) would provide more working women with the right to break time to express breast milk. Both bills are currently sitting in the Pennsylvania House Committee on Labor and Industry.
They are among a package of bills supported by the Pennsylvania Campaign for Women’s Health, a group of more than fifty-five organizations calling for evidence-based policy solutions to real problems faced by Pennsylvania women and families.
As we wait on the Pennsylvania legislature to move these bills, Pennsylvania pregnant and nursing women can look to other federal, state, and local laws to protect their rights at work, such as the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance—but those laws don’t cover all Pennsylvania employees.
If you have questions about your rights at work, contact the Women’s Law Project at 215-928-9801 or info@womenslawproject.org for assistance.
The Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing the rights of women and girls.
Sign up for WLP’s Action Alerts here. Stay up to date on issues and policy by subscribing to our blog, following us on twitter and liking us on Facebook.
We are a non-profit organization. Please consider supporting equal rights for women and girls by making a one-time donation or scheduling a monthly contribution.
