Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978: EEOC Charges and Remedies

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make it illegal for employers with 15 or more employees to treat workers unfairly because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.¹ It covers every stage of the job, from hiring through benefits and firing, and it is enforced through a charge filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.² Two newer laws, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP Act, expand what employers must do beyond the original PDA rules.

What the PDA Prohibits

The statute added a single subsection to Title VII: the phrases “because of sex” and “on the basis of sex” include pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.¹ The practical rule is equal treatment. An employer must treat a pregnant worker the same as any other employee who has a similar ability or inability to do the job. If a warehouse gives light-duty assignments to workers recovering from back surgery, it must offer the same option to a worker whose pregnancy limits heavy lifting.

Protection covers current pregnancy, past pregnancy, potential pregnancy, and related conditions such as miscarriage, fertility treatments, and postpartum recovery.³ An employer who passes over a newlywed for a promotion because she “might get pregnant soon” is violating the PDA just as clearly as one who fires a visibly pregnant employee.

The prohibition reaches specific decisions across the employment relationship:

Refusing to hire someone because she is pregnant or might become pregnant, even out of claimed concern for her health.⁴
Steering pregnant workers into less visible roles, skipping them for promotions, or cutting their hours based on assumptions about commitment or availability.
Selecting a pregnant worker for termination or layoff on the basis of the pregnancy.
Denying an adjustment (light duty, schedule change, time off) that the employer would give to another worker with a similar limitation.⁴

Whether a claim succeeds usually turns on that last comparison. If the employer can show it treated a non-pregnant worker with the same limitation the same way, the case gets much harder. Separately, Title VII prohibits retaliation against a worker who complains about pregnancy discrimination or takes part in an EEOC investigation, whether or not the underlying complaint is ultimately proven.³

Who Is Covered

The law applies to private employers with 15 or more workers for at least 20 calendar weeks in the current or preceding year. Smaller businesses are exempt from the federal mandate, though many states set lower thresholds and some cover employers of any size. State and local government agencies, labor unions, and employment agencies are also covered.² Federal employees are protected through a separate section of Title VII.

Only employees are protected, not independent contractors. Whether a worker qualifies as an employee depends on the economic reality of the relationship, not what the contract calls it. Courts look at how much control the employer exercises over the work, whether the worker can profit or lose based on their own decisions, and whether the role is a core part of the business.⁵ A worker labeled as a “1099 contractor” who follows a set schedule, uses company equipment, and cannot take on other clients likely qualifies as an employee entitled to PDA protection.

Health Insurance and Benefits Parity

Any employer-sponsored health plan that covers medical conditions must cover pregnancy and childbirth on the same terms. The plan cannot impose higher deductibles, separate co-pays, or lower coverage limits for maternity care compared to other conditions.¹ If a plan pays 80 percent of surgical costs for other procedures, it must pay 80 percent for a cesarean section.

The same parity rule extends to fringe benefits like short-term disability, paid leave, and seniority accrual. When a company provides disability benefits to workers recovering from surgery or illness, it must offer the same benefits to workers recovering from childbirth or pregnancy complications.⁴ If employees on medical leave keep building vacation time and seniority, pregnant employees on leave get the same treatment.

Where the PDA Stops and Other Laws Take Over

The PDA only guarantees equal treatment. It does not, on its own, require an employer to provide accommodations if the employer offers none to anyone else. Three other federal laws fill that space, and if you are pregnant at work, they usually matter as much as the PDA itself.

Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The PWFA took effect on June 27, 2023. It requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship.⁶ Examples the EEOC has identified include:

Schedule changes such as shorter hours, a later start time, or part-time work.
Physical adjustments like a stool for a worker who normally stands, modified equipment, or a uniform that fits.
Additional or longer breaks for water, food, rest, or bathroom use.
Telework where the job allows it.
Temporary reassignment or suspension of duties like heavy lifting.
Time off for healthcare appointments or recovery.

The employer has to engage in an interactive conversation with the worker rather than impose an accommodation the worker did not request or agree to.⁶ The defense is proving the specific accommodation would cause significant difficulty or expense given the employer’s size and resources.⁷

PUMP Act

The PUMP Act requires employers to give nursing employees reasonable break time and a private space to pump breast milk for up to one year after the child’s birth. The space cannot be a bathroom, must be shielded from view, and must be free from intrusion. Employers with fewer than 50 employees can claim an exemption if compliance would cause an undue hardship. Neither the PUMP Act nor the PWFA lets an employer demand a doctor’s note before providing pump breaks.⁸

Family and Medical Leave Act

The FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for the birth and care of a newborn, and for serious health conditions related to pregnancy. Coverage is narrower than under the PDA. The employer must have 50 or more employees within 75 miles of the worksite, and the worker must have logged at least 12 months and 1,250 hours in the year before leave begins. Time taken for pregnancy complications before delivery counts toward the same 12-week allotment, so six weeks of pre-birth bed rest leaves only six weeks for postpartum recovery and bonding.⁹ The employer must hold the worker’s job, or an equivalent position, open for the full 12 weeks.

Filing an EEOC Charge

Before suing under Title VII or the PWFA, you have to file a charge with the EEOC. The formal document is EEOC Form 5, the Charge of Discrimination. It asks for your contact information, the employer’s name and address, a description of what happened, and why you believe the employer’s actions were discriminatory.¹⁰

Build the record first. Write down dates, times, and locations for each incident. Keep the names and titles of every manager or coworker involved. Save emails, text messages, performance reviews, and any written policies that bear on how you were treated. Identify witnesses who saw the conduct or heard the comments. Having this organized before you contact the agency makes the intake much smoother.

You can start online through the EEOC Public Portal. After you submit an inquiry, an EEOC staff member interviews you, prepares the charge, and sends it to you to review and sign in your portal account.¹⁰ You can also file in person at any EEOC field office or by mail with a signed letter containing the relevant details. Within 10 days of filing, the EEOC notifies the employer.¹¹ The agency may invite both sides to mediation or open a formal investigation.

Deadlines

You generally have 180 calendar days from the discriminatory act to file. The deadline extends to 300 days if your state has its own agency enforcing a pregnancy discrimination law, which most states do. Weekends and holidays count, but if the deadline falls on one, you have until the next business day. Pursuing an internal grievance, a union complaint, or private mediation does not pause the clock.¹² Miss the deadline and the claim is gone.

What You Can Recover

Remedies aim to put the worker back where she would have been without the discrimination. That can mean reinstatement, back pay, and restored benefits. When discrimination was intentional, courts can add compensatory damages for out-of-pocket costs like job search expenses and medical bills, plus damages for emotional harm. Punitive damages may follow when the employer’s conduct was especially reckless or malicious.¹³

Federal law caps the combined total of compensatory and punitive damages based on employer size:¹⁴

15–100 employees: $50,000
101–200 employees: $100,000
201–500 employees: $200,000
More than 500 employees: $300,000

Back pay, attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, and court costs are calculated separately and are not subject to the caps.¹³ In a wrongful termination case against a large employer, back pay alone can exceed the $300,000 cap on the other categories.

Moving From the EEOC to Court

You generally must wait 180 days after filing your charge before requesting a Notice of Right to Sue, the document that lets you file in federal court.¹¹ The EEOC sometimes issues the notice earlier, particularly when it has decided not to pursue the matter further. Once you receive it, you have 90 days to file suit. Miss that window and the claim is likely gone regardless of its merits.

1
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S.C. 2000e – Definitions
3
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnancy Discrimination and Pregnancy-Related Disability Discrimination
4
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Fact Sheet – Pregnancy Discrimination
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
6
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
7
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Summary of Key Provisions of EEOCs Final Rule to Implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time and Place to Pump at Work – Your Rights
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act
10
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. How to File a Charge of Employment Discrimination
11
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Can Expect After You File a Charge
12
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits For Filing A Charge
13
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Remedies For Employment Discrimination
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S.C. 1981a – Damages in Cases of Intentional Discrimination