Denver Newsroom, Sep 5, 2022 / 06:00 am
In their message for Labor Day, the U.S. bishops have urged the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act as a means of building a just economy for women and families.
“There is currently no federal law requiring employers to provide short-term, reasonable accommodations to pregnant women in the workplace and the PWFA would do so,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ domestic justice committee, wrote in his message for Labor Day.
“No woman should be forced to risk her or her child’s health, miscarriage, preterm birth, economic security or losing insurance benefits just because she requests a short-term, reasonable, pregnancy-related accommodation,” he said.
The PWFA passed the House in May 2021, and was then referred to the Senate’s health, education, labor, and pensions committee.