Pregnancy discrimination falls under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Essentially, and employer may never treat a woman differently from other employees based on the fact that she is pregnant.
Nevada Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
This Nevada senate bill was signed into law by Governor Sandoval in 2017 and grants Pregnant workers the right to request “Reasonable Accommodation” relating to pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition. It requires the employer to engage in a “good faith and interactive process”. In order to trigger this interactive process the pregnant employee MUST make the request for the reasonable accommodation.
How To Request a Reasonable Accommodation
If your company as a human resources department, the best thing to do is to request your reasonable accommodation there and in writing. If you need an accommodation because you are pregnant, or have a related medical condition due to your pregnancy, as long as that request is “reasonable” than you may do so in writing.
What is “Reasonable”?
This is where the problem often lies. Some employers may think your request is “unreasonable” where you may believe it to be very reasonable. Should that issue come up, usually, legal action is necessary to rectify the situation. But essentially, reasonable would fall under the category of what the average person would believe fits as a reasonable accommodation. For example, if your job is clerical work at a desk all day and your reasonable accommodation is frequent short breaks, that could be construed as reasonable as long as they are short. However, if you are a 911 operator who is required to be at their desk and ready to receive calls at any time the frequent breaks may fall under the unreasonable category. Ultimately, an interactive process must be engaged between employer and employee to see what, if anything, can be done to accommodate the pregnant employee.