Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Prohibition of Discrimination Based on Abortion or the Use of Contraception Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits covered employers from discriminating against applicants, as well as current and former employees, based on race, gender, color, religion, or national origin. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA) amended Title VII to include in its prohibition of gender discrimination a prohibition of discrimination based on pregnancy, which includes abortion and the use of contraception. As such, covered employers may not allow their knowledge of an employee’s involvement in such conduct affect their decisions with respect to hiring, firing, promoting, demoting, disciplining, training, assigning work, paying wages, or conferring other benefits. Under the PDA, pregnant employees are protected from the threat of termination because they use contraceptives ( Commission Decision on Coverage of Contraception (2000)) or choose to have an abortion ( Doe v. C.A.R.S. Protection Plus, Inc. (3d Cir. 2008)), but also that of termination for merely contemplating abortion ( Turic v. Holland Hospitality, Inc. (6 ^th Cir. 1996)). Additionally, pregnant employees are protected from employers’ encouragements to have or not have an abortion to retain their current position, obtain better assignments, or gain desired professional advancement ( Velez v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. , (S.D.N.Y. 2007)). It is worth noting that following the recent ruling against a constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization , questions remain regarding a covered employer’s ability to terminate an employee for an illegally obtained abortion if, for example, the employer has a broad policy of terminating any employee that is charged with any felony. In any case, an employee who believes they have suffered from discrimination based on abortion or the use of contraception should file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission .

Topics

• Abortion and reproductive health rights
• Employment discrimination
• Gender discrimination

Geographical location

• North America
• United States

Year

• 1978

External URL

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Prohibition of Discrimination Based on Abortion or the Use of Contraception Under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

Type

• Reference Guides

Jurisdiction

• United States