EEOC Updates Pregnancy Discrimination Guidance

Last week, the EEOC announced an update to its Enforcement Guidance on Pregnancy Discrimination and Related Issues ("Enforcement Guidance") to reflect the Supreme Court's recent decision in Young v. UPS.

As we blogged about in March, the Court in Young articulated a new standard applicable to claims brought under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA"), when a plaintiff claims that she has been denied an accommodation for a pregnancy-related work restriction given to others who are not pregnant, but who are similar in their ability or inability to work. Under the new standard, if an employer points to a neutral policy as its legitimate reason for the differential treatment, a plaintiff can demonstrate that the policy is a pretext for discrimination by proving that the policy imposes a "significant burden" on pregnant workers, and that the reasons for the policy are not "sufficiently strong to justify the burden."