Introduction
Pregnancy in the workplace is one of the constituents of issues to do with the provision of equal opportunity, which is a provision that makes it a fundamental human rights issue. In this light, employers should ensure that their pregnant employees do not suffer negative consequences based on their pregnancy. Bruce Fryburger (1975) refers to a decision by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to indicate that it is illegal to terminate or exclude the application of employment from prospective employee based on the idea that they are pregnant. This provision calls for the adoption of policies that support work-life balance, which would assist in ensuring that employees are productive. For this reason, employers should not only recognize the absence of an employee due to her pregnancy, but they should also provide them with a leave of absence regardless of whether the leave is granted for their illnesses.
Statement of Issue
According to Kevin Smith and Rachel Tischler (2014), provisions contained in the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) dictate that employers should treat pregnant employees as they would treat other employees with similar work capabilities. This accommodation covers women affected by their conditions or other medical issues that emanate from their pregnancy. For this reason, it is necessary for employers to make suitable accommodations for their pregnant employees to ensure that they do not discriminate against them. The considered accommodations are inclusive of giving the employees light duties, reducing their tasks, providing them with suitable medical benefits, and granting them leave of absence when requested.
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Related Research
A considerable number of studies have addressed the need to ensure that pregnant employees are enabled to participate fully in the American workforce. Most studies recognize the legal provisions that make it illegal to discriminate against workers based on the condition that they are pregnant. According to Meina Liu and Patrice Buzzanell (2004), organizational members might find it difficult to determine the most appropriate, negotiable, as well as reasonable interpretation of maternity leave. The difficulty is a derivative of the idea that maternity leave is a socially constructed phenomenon that attracts different interpretations from various sources. Regardless of the interpretations that an organization might have related to providing pregnant workers with maternity leave or light duty, it is necessary to implement policies that would take care of the wellness of pregnant workers.
About the consideration of granting leave to an employee, an organization should do so under the conditions and policies being observed regarding leave. In this case, the policies should be inclusive of the permissible length of absence as well as the allowances provided for getting back afterward. Under provisions provided for by the EEOC, the determination of the beginning of the maternity leave of an employee should follow the nondiscrimination principle (Fryburger, 1975). The decision by the commission requires employers to consider the needs of their employees based on their capacities as individuals rather than on the characteristics of the group’s attributes. This requirement underscores the importance of creating terms and conditions that are created when providing benefits for employees within an organization, both pregnant and non-pregnant. In this case, employers should provide pregnant employees with health benefits for related pregnancy conditions that the female employee might be undergoing, which should match the health benefits awarded to other employees.
The identified accommodations identify that it is essential for employers to gain knowledge with the requirements provided in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If an employee is pregnant, or if she suffers from medical issues brought about by her condition that might qualify as a disability as provided for in ADA, the employer should grant her with reasonable accommodations (Smith & Tischler, 2014). The accommodations should be granted even though the condition could be considered as a temporary one. However, the employer might find it difficult to make some accommodations because of the difficulty or expenses that might be incurred. In this light, it is possible to use business necessity as a factor that might affect the decision for an employer to deny a pregnant employee leave or to consider giving her lighter duties.
As identified earlier, an employer must accommodate pregnant employees. Some employers might need to change the manner in which their employees work because of the needs of a pregnant worker. According to Smith & Tischler (2014), an employer must accommodate an employee when their situation within the workplace affects them. However, the need to accommodate employees does not mean that the employer should offer the employee with the option they would prefer. Conversely, this consideration does not mean that the accommodation would be a perfect solution to the issues that the employee might be facing. Regardless of these considerations, it is essential for employers to come up with fair and dignified solutions that would ensure the continuity of their duties in the organization and the maintenance of their wages as well as benefits. On the part of the employee, she should communicate the accommodations she needs to the employer in a clear and timely manner.
The fundamental dilemma that most employers face relates to whether it would be appropriate to give pregnant women light duties when they are pregnant. This dilemma can be more problematic for an employer that has policies that allows for benefits for light duties for the employees injured while performing their on-the-job duties (Smith & Tischler, 2014). In this case, pregnancy cannot be considered as such, which means that it might not qualify as a condition for performing light duties while on the job. However, denying a pregnant worker light duty benefits would not be appropriate when the pregnancy is considered as her source of impairment (Smith & Tischler, 2014). For this reason, employers should treat pregnant employees in the same manner as they would treat another worker that might be having any other medical condition.
Different portions of the EEOC bring about controversies regarding the provision of light duties to pregnant women. One of the controversies that can be noted relates to the position of the commission about light duties provisions. Fryburger (1975) argues that the commission’s position on the issue is that employers should provide pregnant employees with light-duty work. However, as mentioned above some companies provide the employees with these duties only when they have work-related injuries. The reasoning of the commission could be based on the idea that organizations should not treat pregnant women differently based on the source of their limitations. However, this reasoning contradicts provisions contained in PDA, which does not require employers to give pregnant women that have work restrictions light duties, regardless of whether the light duties are offered to other non-pregnant workers (Smith & Tischler, 2014). This issue is primarily occurring due to the differences in the definition of disability.
Possible Alternatives or Solutions
Given the ambiguity identified regarding the definition and provisions related to the need for employers to provide their pregnant employees with maternal leave or light duties, it would be vital to consider the application of individual as well as collective interventions. This consideration follows Liu and Buzzanell (2004) suggestion that it is essential for different entities within and external to the organization to provide pregnant workers with the information they need to accomplish their work differently. The entities the authors suggest include the human resources department within the organization, healthcare providers, and women’s support groups. The information they get would assist organizational leaders and individual women to acquire necessary information regarding the reasonable work conditions for the pregnant women at different stages of their pregnancy, consequently enabling them to seek accommodations that suit their physical conditions. MacVane et al. (2017) conducted a study that would be used to support this idea in the sense that the respondents they interviewed were able that it is important to establish appropriate policies that would provide pregnant workers with realistic expectations of their pregnancy as well as maternity leave.
On the other hand, the human resource personnel within the organization should focus on training supervisors on the best way possible to handle pregnant workers. This recommendation is in line with Liu and Buzzanell (2004) argument that supervisors should be trained on the best way through which they could provide the pregnant workers with reasonable accommodations as they perform their duties within the organization. Apart from providing them with the training program, the human resource department should ensure that supervisors enact these accommodations based on the needs of the individual women. Ensuring that the supervisors understand these provisions is vital for preventing the possible health problems that might be derived from the failure to provide suitable accommodations. For this reason, the likelihood is that the organization will prevent possible litigations, some of which might appeal to justice and ethical elements attached to the concept of care.
Recommendation
The most important consideration in light of the need to avoid discriminating against pregnant workers and providing them with suitable work-life balance would be to create clear leave policies. The policies should not only be just, but they should follow ethical elements of care as well. This recommendation relates to the idea that factors that influence the duration women should work while pregnant and when they should return to work after maternity has no clear definition (Liu & Buzzanell, 2004). For this reason, the organizational culture should be more family-friendly. Developing appropriate maternity leave policies could assist in ensuring that the organization attracts and retains top talent. One such policy would be to ensure that the employees inform their supervisors about their expected date of confinement, which will assist in making suitable arrangements for accommodating the absence of the worker while on leave. On the other hand, the employer should also make suitable post-leave arrangements necessary for taking care of the breastfeeding issues for the workers.
References
Fryburger, B. (1975). Maternity Leave Policies under Title VII. Labor Law Journal , 163-173.
Giddings, L., Anderson, D., & Birkeland, K. (2013). Is It Profitable To Offer Paid Leave? A Case Study of the Legal Profession. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues , 16 (1), 73-89.
Liu, M., & Buzzanell, P. (2004). Negotiating Maternity Leave Expectations: Perceived Tensions between Ethics of Justice and Care. Journal of Business Communication , 41 (4), 323-349. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021943604268174
MacVane, C., Fix, M., Strout, T., Zimmerman, K., Bloch, R., & Hein, C. (2017). Congratulations, You're Pregnant! Now About Your Shifts . . . : The State of Maternity Leave Attitudes and Culture in EM. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine , 18 (5), 800-810. http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2017.6.33843
Smith, K., & Tischler, R. (2014). Accommodations under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Employment Relations Today , 41 (3), 81-86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ert.21468
