Historical Highlights for Working Families
ERA has pursued hundreds of cases and legislative efforts nationwide to ensure that men and women can start and support their families without facing discrimination at work or draconian work schedules or conditions. Here are some historical highlights:
- In the 1970’s ERA challenges the discriminatory treatment of pregnant workers in early cases before the United States Supreme Court, fighting California’s refusal to deny disability insurance coverage to women disabled by pregnancy in Geduldig v. Aiello and a school district’s forced maternity leave policy in Berg v. Richmond Unified School District. Victory follows closely behind these cases when Congress passes the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.
- California Federal Savings & Loan v. Department of Fair Employment and Housing (1987): The United States Supreme agrees with the reasoning set forth in an amicus brief filed by ERA, upholding a California law that requires employers with five or more employees to grant unpaid disability leaves of up to four months to women disabled by pregnancy or childbirth.
- Miller v. Children’s Hospital (1990): ERA successfully brings this pregnancy discrimination lawsuit challenging employer policies that excluded pregnant employees from certain jobs rather than accommodating them.
- ERA plays a key role in passage and interpretation of the California Family Rights Act of 1991, which provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job protected leave to care for one’s own serious health condition or that of a family member or to bond with a new child. Passage of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act follows in 1993.
- ERA’s efforts to obtain modest workplace accommodations for pregnant workers in California leads to amendments of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act in 1992 and 1999.
- Pallas v. AT&T (1999): After the U.S. Supreme Court rejects review of a victory at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, ERA settles thispregnancy discrimination case concerning denial of early retirement due to maternity leave on behalf of a class of nearly 10,000 women on terms valued at over $25 million dollars
- Lundy v. University of California, Santa Cruz (2000): ERA settles a case on behalf a female UCSC faculty member who was fired after she took parental leave to adopt and care for her first child, obtaining back pay and the benefits for the client.
- ERA plays a pivotal role in passage of California’s Paid Family Leave Act in 2002, making California the first state in the country to provide workers with partial wage replacement for up to six weeks per year to care for a family member or bond with a new child. Over the next decade, ERA joins other California non-profits in the Paid Family Leave Collaborative to educate the public about this important law.
- In 2007, ERA launches an effort to protect family caregivers from discrimination at work in California, introducing a series of related bills in the California legislature over the next several years.
- That same year, the U.S. EEOC issues Enforcement Guidance to stop the Unlawful Disparate Treatment of Workers With Caregiving Responsibilities.
- In 2011, ERA co-sponsors SB 299, an amendment to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act that guarantees continued health care coverage for women out on pregnancy disability leave. The bill is signed into law in 2011, and takes effect on January 1, 2012.
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