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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 4, 2014 01:07 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mark B. Cohen and Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Co-sponsorship of Pregnancy Discrimination legislation |
| In the near future, Rep. Vanessa Brown and I plan to introduce legislation that would eliminate discrimination and promote women’s health and economic security by ensuring reasonable workplace accommodations for workers whose ability to perform the functions of a job are limited by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. This bill is part of the Pennsylvania Agenda for Women’s Health, which I jointly sponsored with Rep. Painter last session (HB 1892). We are introducing this legislation because discrimination in the workplace still occurs in spite of federal law forbidding it. An article entitled “It shouldn’t be a heavy lift: fair treatment for pregnant workers,” produced by the national Women’s Law Center, states that pregnant workers are often forced out of their jobs or denied accommodations that allow them to keep working. Further, more than 40 percent of full-time low-wage workers say they’re not allowed to decide when to take breaks. Our proposal parallels federal legislation introduced by Senator Bob Casey entitled the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (S.942) of the 113th Congress (2013-2014). Specifically, our legislation would require employers to provide the following workplace accommodations for pregnant workers:
This initiative signals a growing trend of employee-protective legislation related to pregnancy and comes on the heels of similar laws passed in New York City, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and Texas. We invite you to join this effort to eliminate discrimination against pregnant workers and make the workplace a safe and fair environment for everyone. If you have any questions about this legislation, please contact Kathy Seidl at 787-4117 or kseidl@pahouse.net or Brandon Flood at 772-6955 or bflood@pahouse.net. Previous sponsors of HB 1892: PAINTER, COHEN, MUNDY, BROWNLEE, D. COSTA, DAVIS, READSHAW, KIM, BRIGGS, SWANGER, SCHREIBER, DERMODY, SCHLOSSBERG, MOLCHANY, BISHOP, M. DALEY, GAINEY, YOUNGBLOOD, DONATUCCI, PASHINSKI, FRANKEL, THOMAS, KINSEY, McNEILL, SIMS, WHITE, PARKER, CALTAGIRONE, STURLA, D. MILLER, RAVENSTAHL, BRADFORD, DEASY, O'BRIEN, McGEEHAN, SAMUELSON, V. BROWN and FREEMAN Thank you. |
Introduced as HB704