This law can allow you to work from home while pregnant or postpartum

For all things working and mom-ing, we always turn to Daphne Delvaux, an employment attorney who represents working mothers, founder of the Mamattorney, and author of the new book Moms in Labor: An Employment Lawyer’s Secrets to Protect Your Baby and Your Career (That HR Won’t Tell You). In this multipart series for Two Truths, Delvaux will help you better understand your rights at work across various stages of motherhood. Part one: how to navigate return-to-work mandates, what to know about accommodations throughout the reproductive years, including the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and how to ask for what you are entitled to. We know that too many mothers leave the workforce due to the dual demands of paid work and caregiving. Tell us about what moms need to know about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—and how it can help them build some flexibility into their work life. In June 2023, Congress passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). It applies to any employer with 15 or more employees. It covers pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations unless doing so would create an undue hardship, which is a very high bar. In short, that means that pregnant and postpartum workers may be able to opt out of return-to-office mandates entirely. Remote work is a reasonable accommodation. Your company already knows it works because they just spent years building the infrastructure to prove it. Help us understand the PWFA a little bit more. How exactly can you qualify for accommodations under it? The PWFA is modeled after the Americans With Disabilities Act but designed specifically for pregnancy and postpartum. It requires that the mother has a pregnancy-related condition that is limiting one or more activities, and that a modification would allow her to keep doing her job. She does not have to have an official disability, just a pregnancy- or postpartum-related limitation. Conditions that qualify include morning sickness, pelvic pain, preterm labor risk, postpartum physical recovery, and prenatal or postpartum mental health conditions like anxiety or depression. Breastfeeding is explicitly covered, and so is the need to pump. So how do you suggest people make this request? The most effective thing a pregnant or postpartum worker can do is put the request in writing before the situation becomes adversarial. Start by emailing HR and your direct manager and stating that you are requesting a reasonable accommodation under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Describe the limitation (not the diagnosis) and the accommodation you’re requesting. Attach supporting medical documentation. Keep the language functional: “I am requesting the ability to work remotely during [duration] due to a pregnancy-related limitation.” Then what do you do? Essentially, you wait for the interactive process to begin. Your employer is required to engage. If they deny the request, ask for the denial in writing and the specific basis for the undue hardship determination. If they ignore the request entirely, document it and save the evidence. Both scenarios are actionable. The employer is not required to give you exactly what you asked for, but they are required to make a good-faith effort to find something that works. What they cannot do is nothing. What should people do if this process isn’t working—either their work isn’t being responsive or is being dismissive? Remind your employer that by law they have to engage in the interactive process to try to accommodate you. Mothers are also protected from retaliation, whether or not the accommodation is granted. As this is a newer law, it is possible that your employer is still wrapping their head around it. In your communications, make sure you are informing instead of asking, and do not assume they know about this. It’s possible that you are actually more of a subject matter expert than the person you are emailing. These rights are more acute to us moms, and it may just not be on their radar. However, if their behavior seems malicious or punitive in nature, make sure to consult with an attorney.