“Rose” was a hard working employee in the Bay area of California that called ERA’s Advice and Counseling Hotline in December. When Rose told her employer that she would need to take a short medical leave for her pregnancy, her employer informed her that it would no longer pay for her health insurance benefits during that time. After informing her employer about a new California law (co-sponsored by ERA) prohibiting her employer from doing just that, it agreed to continue providing her benefits during her medical leave; however, it then threatened to cut off her health insurance benefits coverage during her brief maternity leave following the medical leave. This policy discouraged Rose from taking the brief leave to which she was entitled under California law to bond with her newborn child after she recovered from childbirth.

Fortunately for Rose, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission recently issued amended regulations, effective on December 30, 2012, that clarify that employers must continue providing health insurance coverage during both pregnancy disability leave AND bonding leave under the California Family Rights Act. ERA was able to use those amended regulations to ensure that Rose could take the leave she needed without losing much needed health insurance coverage.

Pregnant workers and families across California will begin the new year with many important increased protections due to amendments to the regulations for the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. These amendments were informed by years of experience of a coalition of California legal services organizations (including ERA), that saw firsthand the issues that most pregnant workers face in the workplace. Below are some of the important changes that were made:

Clarification of the FEHA’s reasonable pregnancy accommodation requirement

• When an employer becomes aware that an employee might need a pregnancy accommodation, the employer must engage in a good faith conversation with a pregnant employee who needs an accommodation to identify a reasonable accommodation. This means that the employer cannot automatically and categorically deny the worker a pregnancy accommodation upon receiving a request, without discussing options and alternatives.
• The regulations now provide examples of reasonable pregnancy accommodation, including: providing break time and space for breast feeding or pumping, providing the employee with a sitting stool, modifying an employee’s work duties or schedule, and providing additional leave to an employee once she exhausts her four months of pregnancy disability leave.

Clarification of the FEHA’s pregnancy disability leave requirement

• Employees can be entitled to pregnancy disability leave for a broad array of pregnancy-related conditions, including: severe morning sickness, gestational diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, and post-partem depression.
• The only defense to failing to reinstate an employee when she returns from her pregnancy disability leave is if the employer has a legitimate business reason that is not related to the fact that the employee took the leave. The regulations no longer allow an employer to fail to reinstate an employee when holding her position open during her pregnancy disability leave would substantially undermine the business operations of the employer.
• It may be unlawful for an employer to force a pregnant employee on leave when the employee has not requested leave.

Clarification that employers must provide language appropriate notice to employees that are not English proficient.

If you are an employee that needs more information about your employer’s obligations to provide pregnancy accommodations or leave, please call ERA’s Advice and Counseling Hotline at 1-800-839-4ERA.

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