Federal judge rules workplace abortion accommodations should be overturned

A federal judge ruled this week that language accommodating abortion must be removed from the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Joseph in the Western District of Louisiana, Lake Charles division, ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to rewrite employer guidelines in a pregnant workers protection law, according to court documents.

The statute requires employers with 15 or more staff to provide reasonable accommodations — think time off for appointments, additional rest breaks, a stool to sit on while working — for pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions, as long as the requests don’t place “undue hardship” on the company or organization.

Joseph, who Republican President Donald Trump appointed during his first term. He ruled that former Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration exceeded its authority by including abortion in rules finalized last year.

“This court’s decision to deny workers reasonable accommodations for abortion-related needs is part of a broader attack on women’s rights and reproductive freedom,” said Inimai Chettiar, the president of paid leave advocacy group A Better Balance, in a statement.

The ruling is a victory for state officials in Louisiana, Mississippi and a group of Catholic Church organizations.Plaintiffs sued the EEOC over the inclusion of abortion in the guidelines, which the agency released in April 2024 following a lengthy public comment process, Illuminator reported.

Roughly 54,000 Americans said abortion should be excluded from the definition of “pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions,” while some 40,000 said pregnancy termination should be included.

Lawyers for the states — both have near-total abortion bans — argued the rule doesn’t align with the Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, while Catholic groups said the abortion provision violates freedom of religion.

“This is a win for Louisiana and for life,” Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill said on social media.

Several other lawsuits against the law are in play. A federal judge ruled in April that a separate group of Catholic employers do not have to protect their employees’ access to abortion and fertility treatments, North Dakota Monitor reported.

In February, another judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by 17 GOP attorneys general against the EEOC over abortion accommodations in the workplace can move forward, according to The Associated Press.

And the Texas government and its agencies don’t have to comply with any part of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. A judge temporarily blocked the law’s enforcement in February 2024 after the attorney general argued it was unconstitutionally passed in December 2022 by proxy vote, The Texas Tribune reported.