Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EEOC NEWS—Acting Chair restates position on PWFA reg, says she’s waiting for a quorum, (Feb 21, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

Acting Chair Lucas contends that the final rule issued in April 2014 “fundamentally errs in conflating pregnancy and childbirth accommodation with accommodation of the female sex, that is, female biology and reproduction.”

In a statement issued on the EEOC’s “What You Should Know” page, Acting Chair Andrea Lucas reminds interested parties that she “has been vocal in her opposition to certain parts of the Commission’s Final Rule implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act” and that while she “continues to support” elements of the rule, she did not vote to approve it at the time.

She states:

• “The Acting Chair has explained that while she has supported—and continues to support—elements of the Final Rule, ultimately she was unable to vote to approve it because it broadens the scope of the statute in ways that cannot be reconciled with the text. Specifically, the Acting Chair does not agree with the Commission’s interpretation of the phrase “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” and the contrivances the Commission used to arrive at its construction of the statute.”

Citing her statement issued at the time, she reiterates her belief that “at a high level, the rule fundamentally erred in conflating pregnancy and childbirth accommodation with accommodation of the female sex, that is, female biology and reproduction.” She argues that the EEOC “extended the new accommodation requirements to reach virtually every condition, circumstance, or procedure that relates to any aspect of the female reproductive system.”

Waiting for a quorum. Consistent with her previously stated views, she explains, she “remains opposed to” the construction of the phrase “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions” used in the Final Rule, but notes that the “Office of the Chair cannot unilaterally rescind or modify this (or any other) Final Rule under the APA, in whole or in part.”

However, she states that “Once a quorum is re-established at the Commission,” she “intends for the Commission to reconsider portions of the Final Rule that she believes are unsupported by law.”

News: AgencyNews PregnancyDiscrimination Discrimination FederalRegulations WhiteHouseNews