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Starting today, June 18, 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will enforce new regulations under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). With this in mind, employers should familiarize themselves with the EEOC’s final rule and interpretive guidance to better understand their obligations under the PWFA and how the EEOC will interpret and enforce the law in the future.

The PWFA, which became effective on June 27, 2023, was enacted to fill gaps left by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by mandating reasonable accommodations for employees affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The PWFA specifically requires private and public employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with “known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business” regardless of whether the accommodations are provided to similarly situated employees.