ATLANTA — Pregnant workers now have more protections than ever before thanks to the passage of the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
The new rules apply to issues arising on or after June 27, 2023.
The act requires employers to make more accommodations for pregnancy related conditions; everything from morning sickness to postpartum complications.
It's something Kate Foster, a first time mom to her now 9-month-old son, wishes had been in place sooner.
She said it wasn't an easy pregnancy for her.
“I threw up a lot unfortunately, it wasn't just like morning sickness," she said. "It's hyperemesis gravidarum, pretty much excessive morning sickness."
Foster was working two jobs when she learned she was going to have a child, and said she told her bosses right away, adding "I thought, you know, like I'd be very secure in my job. And clearly I was mistaken."
She said her bosses let her go, citing her frequent bathroom breaks to be sick.
"It was pretty much, hey, you're going to be taken off work, you're taking breaks to literally puke your guts out in the bathroom every hour," Foster recalled.
She said she was let go only two days after notifying her boss she was pregnant. And not long after that her other job fired her, too, with little to no explanation.
“It was just like, 'sorry,' and then never got a response from them ever again," Foster said. "I'm 22 years old. I never had any issues with work, did a great job, and then I'm left with pretty much nothing and a new life to take care of. It was very hard to emotionally recover from that.”
Foster said she had to move in with her parents and get a part time fast food job to make ends meet.
“I was like I don't know how I'm going to pay for my car, the bills, you know, like water, gas, lights," she said. "I have to have those things to provide for a child."
She said she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), her only recourse at the time.
After several months, she said they eventually scheduled a hearing, but it was on her due date.
“I cried a lot honestly, I still get a little emotional about it," Foster said. "It's nice to feel like I had a really good village because if I didn't have any of that, and there are people that are less and less fortunate than I was, they would have nothing. They'd be on the streets, they'd be in homeless shelters.”
Before the new rules implemented in 2023, pregnant workers were protected by the bounds of the Pregnancy Discrimination act of 1978.
But Fallon McClure, deputy director for policy and advocacy at the ACLU of Georgia, said the rules were vague.
"In the past, it was really convoluted and hard, it didn’t go far enough," McClure said. "Perhaps we'll give you an extra 15 minute break or something, there wasn't a whole lot of rules around it. And if you were discriminated against, it was very hard to prove.”
McClure said the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act increases protections.
“Now they've streamlined it, made it very clear that reasonable accommodations have to be made," she said. "And if they're not made, you have a course of action to seek compensation. To sue, essentially."
Under the new rules, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers including the ability to take breaks, work flexible hours, be excused from strenuous activities, and more.
Requests for accommodation can’t be denied unless the employer can prove the request could cause "undue hardship" on the business.
“It honestly gives us a fighting chance to actually be productive members of society like we always have been," Foster said. "And being able to do so without a fear of just losing everything, because most people are literally one paycheck away from being on the street."
Foster found a new job that has made accommodations for her as a new mom. Her son is now 9 months old. She said she hopes the new federal rules protect others from going though what she did.
“They deserve to be taken care of and treated like a person," she said. "How do you expect us to raise great people without having more than just our village behind us to make sure that everyone involved is safe?”
Georgia also has a bill under consideration (HB 556) that would double down the federal rules, giving pregnant workers recourse to seek damages on the state level without having to go to federal court.
The U.S Department of Labor has more information about what pregnant workers should know about their rights and protections here.