In connection with the White House’s United State of Women Summit, EEOC Issues Resource Documents on Equal Pay, Pregnancy Bias

On June 14, 2016, the inaugural United State of Women Summit (the “Summit”) convened by the White House was held in Washington, DC. More than 5,000 women, including experts and leaders who work both domestically and internationally, gathered for the two-day summit, which focused on six topics: economic empowerment; health and wellness; educational opportunity; violence against women; entrepreneurship and innovation; and leadership and civic engagement.

In connection with the Summit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released three resource documents, which discuss equal pay rights and rights of pregnant employees under federal law, as follows:

“What You Should Know: Equal Pay and the EEOC’s Proposal to Collect Pay Data” – explains the EEOC’s proposal to collect pay data, employee rights to equal pay under federal law, and what workers should do if they think they are not being paid fairly.
“Legal Rights for Pregnant Workers under Federal Law” – discusses the protections available under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for women who are pregnant, have been pregnant or may become pregnant, and whose employer has 15 or more employees, including prohibitions against termination from employment because of pregnancy and against harassment based on pregnancy or a pregnancy-related medical condition, and possible job accommodations for pregnancy-related work restrictions.
“Helping Patients Deal with Pregnancy-Related Limitations and Restrictions at Work” – explains to health-care providers how they can assist a pregnant patient, whose pregnancy begins to interfere with her work and whose employer has 15 or more employees, to obtain work adjustments that allow her to remain employed without jeopardizing her health, under the PDA and ADA.

All three documents are posted on the EEOC’s website, https://www.eeoc.gov . Please call one of the attorneys from Mirick O’Connell’s Labor and Employment Group if you have questions about any of these items.

About Susan Mitchell

Susan is a paralegal in the Labor, Employment and Employee Benefits Group. She routinely handles a broad range of labor and employment issues, and specializes, in discrimination law. She actively participates in the defense of discrimination claims, conducting fact gathering, interviewing witnesses, and drafting Position Statements and related pleadings, such as affidavits and discovery. Susan also conducts discrimination and harassment prevention training for both public and private employers. She is on the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination’s list of approved trainers. Susan served for a number of years as president of the Central Massachusetts Paralegal Association. She sits on the Advisory Board for Paralegal Studies at Assumption College and formerly served on the Paralegal Advisory Committee for Bay Path College. She is also an associate member of the Worcester County Bar Association. Susan has been a presenter at the MCLE Paralegal Conference, discussing the employer's perspective in preparing an MCAD case. She is a Notary Public. Susan attended Pennsylvania State University.

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