Jennifer Barna, Senior Counsel in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management and Litigation practices, in the firm’s Newark office, was quoted in Law360 Employment Authority, in “Workers Feeling PWFA's Impact After 1st Year in Effect,” by Anne Cullen. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect one year ago Thursday, has brought about more pregnancy accommodations for workers without causing overwhelming compliance challenges for employers, attorneys on both sides of the bar say.
The PWFA, a bipartisan measure that went live June 27, 2023, requires employers to offer job-related adjustments to workers who are pregnant or have pregnancy-related conditions.
The law is still in its infancy, as the federal regulations clarifying its outer bounds only went into effect earlier this month, and there is very little — if any — PWFA case law yet. But worker advocates said that as soon as the PWFA was up and running, they saw an enormous shift. …
Attorneys who advise employers had similar results to report, as they said it has generally not been a rough adjustment for their clients. …
On the management side, attorneys said telework was a common request in the PWFA arena. …
Jennifer Barna, senior counsel at Epstein Becker Green, said she and her fellow employment lawyers at the firm have seen a similar theme.
"We have seen a lot of requests to work remotely, particularly for clients in office settings and in industries where employees are being asked to come into the office after having worked remotely for a few years," Barna said.
In industries where workers tackle more manual labor, "we have seen requests for light duty and breaks," Barna said.
