It's a major milestone for women's workplace civil rights.
Advocates have pushed for protections for pregnant workers for over a decade, arguing that thousands of women lose their jobs each year — either fired or placed on unpaid leave — because employers are under no obligation to offer pregnant workers reasonable accommodations.
Those would include things like extra bathroom breaks, the ability to sit while working a cash register or restrictions on how much weight they can lift."Employers can no longer treat pregnant workers like they are expendable once they find out they are expecting a child or need a modest accommodation to prevent serious health complications," said Dina Bakst, cofounder of A Better Balance, an advocacy group that has led efforts for the past decade to pass the bill, in a statement.
Bakst's group was leading a last push to get it passed in the lame duck. It passed on a 73-24 vote Thursday. The Pump Act, which passed 92-5, guarantees workers the right to break time to express milk, another big issue — particularly for hourly workers who can't always get off the clock to pump.
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