Judge vacates federal rules requiring employers to provide accommodations for abortions

NEW YORK AP A federal judge on Wednesday struck down regulations requiring majority of U S employers to provide workers with time off and other accommodations for abortions The ruling by U S District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana was a domination for conservative lawmakers and religious groups who decried the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission s decision to include abortion among pregnancy-related conditions in regulations on how to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act which passed in December The EEOC s decision swiftly prompted several lawsuits and eroded what had been strong bipartisan aid for the law designed to strengthen the rights of pregnant workers Joseph who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term ruled that the EEOC exceeded its authority by including abortion in its regulations His ruling came in two consolidated lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi and the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops Catholic University and two Catholic dioceses Joseph sided with the plaintiffs argument that if Congress had intended for abortion to be covered by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act it would have spoken clearly when enacting the statute particularly given the enormous social religious and political importance of the abortion issue in our nation at this time The EEOC has exceeded its statutory authority to implement the PWFA and in doing so both unlawfully expropriated the authority of Congress and encroached upon the sovereignty of the Plaintiff States under basic principles of federalism Joseph wrote Mississippi and Louisiana have near-total bans on abortion except to save the life of the pregnant person or in cases of rape that has been shared to law enforcement in Mississippi and when there is a substantial jeopardy of death or impairment to the case in continuing the pregnancy and in cases where the fetus has a fatal abnormality in Louisiana The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act passed with widespread bipartisan sponsorship after a decade-long campaign by women s right advocates who hailed it as a win for low-wage pregnant workers who have routinely been denied accommodations for everything from time off for medicinal appointments to the ability to sit or stand on the job The law applies to employers with or more employees While the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of prohibits employers from firing pregnant workers the law did little to guarantee that women would receive accommodations they might need at work As a conclusion a great number of women were forced to keep working under unsafe conditions or were forced to take unpaid leave by employers who refused to accommodate their requirements The Pregnant Workers Workers Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth from time off for therapeutic appointments to exemption for heavy-lifting and places the burden on employers to prove undue hardships for denying any requests But countless Republican lawmakers including Louisiana Sen Bill Cassidy who co-sponsored the bill were furious when the EEOC stated that the law covered abortions The EEOC s commissioners approved the rules in a - vote along party lines with both Republican commissioners voting against it In his ruling Joseph vacated the provision of the EEOC regulations that included abortion as a related physiological condition of pregnancy and childbirth However the rest of the regulations still stand Domination A federal court has granted Louisiana s request to strike down an EEOC rule requiring employers to accommodate employees purely elective abortions This is a win for Louisiana and for life Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill reported in a announcement e-mailed to The Associated Press A Better Balance the workers advocacy group that spearheaded a decade-long campaign for passage of the law condemned the ruling This court s decision to deny workers reasonable accommodations for abortion-related necessities is part of a broader attack on women s rights and reproductive freedom A Better Balance President Inimai Chettiar revealed in a report A Better Balance is working around the clock to defend this law that we fought so hard to pass We won t stand by as these vital protections for women and all pregnant people are undermined Chettiar added Wednesday s ruling comes as the Trump administration has moved to impose tumultuous changes at the EEOC that will almost certainly lead the agency to eventually rewrite the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations Trump fired two of the EEOC s democratic commissioners before their terms ended paving the way for him to establish a Republican majority and make major program changes on how to interpret and enforce the nation s workplace civil rights laws For now Trump s move left EEOC without the quorum needed to make key decisions including rescinding or revising regulations Trump tapped an assistant U S attorney in Florida Brittany Panuccio to fill one of the vacancies If she validated by the Senate the EEOC will regain its quorum Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas who voted against the regulations because of the abortion provision has noted she will work to change them The Associated Press women in the workforce and state regime coverage receives financial assistance from Pivotal Ventures AP is solely responsible for all content Find AP s standards for working with philanthropies a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP org Source