Question: I am a new manager, and I’m confused about how to handle work restrictions for employees who are pregnant. Can you give me some guidance?
Answer: Under California and federal law, harassment or discrimination based on pregnancy is considered sex discrimination. California law also prohibits discrimination and harassment against an employee based on childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions.
In California, an employee who is disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition may take up to four months pregnancy disability leave. In addition, upon the employee’s request, the employer must provide the employee with a reasonable accommodation. The employee’s request must be supported by documentation from the employee’s health care provider.
A reasonable accommodation may be required when an employee is affected or disabled by pregnancy and needs a change in the work environment or job duties to enable the employee to perform the essential job functions. The “reasonableness” of a requested accommodation is determined on a case-by-case basis and based on factors such as the employee’s medical needs, the duration of the requested accommodation, and the employer’s policies and practices. The employer and the employee must engage in a good faith interactive process to address the employee’s request for reasonable accommodation.
A recent case, Lopez v. La Casa de las Madres, clarifies the employee’s burden of proof when requesting work accommodations based on pregnancy. Ms. Lopez worked as a manager at a residential shelter for domestic violence victims. After she took over four months of pregnancy disability leave, Ms. Lopez returned to work with two restrictions: (1) time off to allow her to continue mental health treatment, and (2) flexible/shortened workdays if Ms. Lopez “finds nature of the work or stress of the work overwhelming and triggering of severe anxiety/depressive symptoms.” The employer determined it could provide Ms. Lopez time off for treatment but could not accommodate the second restriction of flexible/shortened workdays because Ms. Lopez’s job could not be modified to eliminate stressful situations. Instead, the employer offered Ms. Lopez a data entry job as a temporary accommodation. Ms. Lopez refused the data entry job, and her employment was terminated.
Ms. Lopez sued, alleging that her employer failed to provide a reasonable accommodation. The court found that Ms. Lopez did not prove that she had a pregnancy-related disability or that she could perform the essential functions of her job with a reasonable accommodation. The court stated that California law does not require employers to remove an essential job function as a reasonable accommodation. The court found that Ms. Lopez’s job as the shelter manager “was inherently stressful and required quick decisions that sometimes meant the difference between life and death.” Based on this finding, the court held that the employer did not have to provide Ms. Lopez with a “flexible or shortened workday” if Ms. Lopez found her work stressful because that would have required the employer to remove an essential function from Ms. Lopez’s job.
The takeaway for employers responding to disability accommodation requests is to engage the employee in an interactive process, obtain information in writing from the employee’s healthcare provider about the employee’s work restrictions, and consider reasonable accommodations, including the employee’s requested accommodation and other reasonable alternatives. Be sure to document the process and communicate the accommodation decision and reasoning