Lifting those restrictions for pregnant employees: Accommodating pregnancy in the workplace, CRA’s The Restaurant Standard

By Katherine S. Catlos, Esq. and Liana Rabinovitch, Esq.

On Wednesday March 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court surprised many with its decision in Young v. United Parcel Service Inc., the Court’s first ruling on employers’ duties towards their pregnant workers in over 20 years.

The Court’s decision revived former UPS driver Peggy Young’s lawsuit against the company for being denied light-duty work while pregnant, essentially undoing a previous victory for UPS.

The facts, Young presented UPS with a doctor’s note advised that she should not lift more than twenty pounds and should not lift more than ten pounds once her pregnancy progressed to a certain stage. UPS, however, required its drivers to lift up to 70 pounds.

UPS provided temporary alternate work to employees injured on the job and accommodated disabled employees in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Under UPS’s policies, however …