['Discrimination']
['Pregnancy Discrimination']
06/13/2024
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Summary of differences between federal and state regulations
Employer defined
“Employer” means any person who has 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such a person, but does not include an Indian tribe or a bona fide private membership club other than a labor organization.
Pregnancy Accommodations Act
Effective 5/17/18, the South Carolina Pregnancy Accommodations Act revises the South Carolina Human Affairs Law. Employers must provide reasonable accommodations to those with medical needs arising from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions of an applicant for employment or employee, unless they can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business.
You risk a violation of the Act if you:
- Deny employment opportunities to a job applicant or employee, if the denial is based on the need to make such reasonable accommodations;
- Require an applicant or employee affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions to accept an accommodation she chooses not to accept, if the applicant or employee does not have a known limitation related to pregnancy, or if the accommodation is unnecessary to perform the essential duties of her job;
- Require an employee to take leave under any leave law or policy if another reasonable accommodation can be provided; or
- Take adverse action against an employee in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment for requesting or using a reasonable accommodation to the known limitations for medical needs arising from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
Reasonable accommodations can include the following:
- Providing more frequent or longer break periods;
- Providing more frequent bathroom breaks
- Providing a private place, other than a bathroom stall for the purpose of expressing milk;
- Modifying food or drink policies;
- Providing seating or allowing the employee to sit more frequently if the job requires the employee to stand;
- Providing assistance with manual labor and limits on lifting;
- Temporarily transferring the employee to a less strenuous or hazardous vacant position, if qualified;
- Providing job restructuring or light duty, if available;
- Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices necessary for performing essential job functions;
- Modifying work schedules.
You are not required to provide the following, unless you do or would do so for other employees or classes of employees that need a reasonable accommodation:
- Hire new employees that would not have otherwise hired;
- Discharge an employee, transfer another employee with more seniority, or promote another employee who is not qualified to perform the new job;
- Create a new position, including a light duty position for the employee, unless a light duty position would be provided for another equivalent employee;
- Compensate an employee for more frequent or longer break periods, unless the employee uses a break period which would otherwise be compensated; or
- Construct a permanent, dedicated space for expressing milk.
An undue hardship is an action requiring significant difficulty or expense, when considered in light of the following factors:
- The nature and cost of the accommodation;
- The overall financial resources of the facility involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodation, the number of persons employed at the facility, the effect on expenses and resources, or the impact otherwise of the accommodation upon the operation of the facility;
- Your overall financial resources, the overall size of the business with respect to the number of its employees, the number, type, and location of the facilities; and
- The type of operation, including the composition, structure, and functions of the workforce , the geographic separateness and the administrative or fiscal relationship of the facility in question to the covered entity.
You must provide written notice to new employees upon hire, and to existing employees by September 14, 2018. The notice must include information regarding the right to be free from discrimination for medical needs arising from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The notice must also be conspicuously posted at your place of business in an area accessible to employees.
The unlawful employment practices and exemptions of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act also apply. For example, you must treat disabilities caused by pregnancy the same as any other similar disability.
State
Contact
South Carolina Human Affairs Commission
Regulations
South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 1, Chapter 13, Human Affairs Law
Federal
Contact
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Regulations
Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Public Law 95-555, 92 Stat. 2076 (1978)
29 CFR Parts 1604.10, Employment policies relating to pregnancy and childbirth.
Appendix A to Part 1604, Questions and Answers on the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Public Law 95-555, 92 Stat. 2076 (1978)
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