CHICAGO — A federal judge in Arkansas decided on Friday that the lawsuit brought by 17 states against federal rules that give workers time off and other accommodations for abortions does not have the right to be heard.
In April, Republican attorneys general from every state, led by Arkansas and Tennessee, sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This was just days after the agency released rules for employers and workers on how to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a law that will require many employers to make “reasonable accommodations” for employees who are pregnant or have recently given birth.
The rules say that workers can ask for time off to get an abortion and recover from the process. This is in addition to normal pregnancy accommodations at work, such as time off for prenatal appointments, more bathroom breaks, or the ability to bring snacks to work.
In the federal court case in Arkansas, the plaintiffs said the rules go beyond the 2022 law that was passed with backing from both parties.
Former President Barack Obama nominated U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall, Jr. to the bench for the Eastern District of Arkansas. He turned down the state’s request for a nationwide preliminary injunction on the federal rules, which are set to go into effect on Tuesday.
The decision from Friday says that the States can’t get over their fear of one part of the federal government going too far by having another part go too far.
A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said that Griffin is “disappointed in the court’s ruling” and that Griffin is “considering all legal options and remains confident we will ultimately be successful.”
Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia are the other states that have joined the case.
There is also a federal case in Louisiana that is challenging the EEOC rules. The judge has not yet made a decision. To fight the abortion rule, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other religious groups have started their case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. That case has been joined with one made by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi. Both ask the judge to stop the EEOC rules from going into effect until the case is over.
A Better Balance, a non-profit that led the 10-year campaign to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and more than 20 labor and women’s rights groups filed amicus briefs in both cases to support the idea that the EEOC rules should go into effect as planned, stating that they are essential to the law’s successful implementation.
According to Dina Bakst of A Better Balance, today’s decision in Tennessee v. EEOC is a win for millions of pregnant and postpartum workers across the country. This is because it means that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) regulations can go into effect next week, making it clearer how the law really works.
In their briefs, the groups gave dozens of cases of pregnant workers who have gone to advocacy groups or filed lawsuits saying that their employers have refused to make accommodations for them, which is against the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
The Arkansas lawsuit was brought by Gillian Thomas, a senior staff attorney in the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project. She said, “The relief sought in this case is completely overboard and would have harmed literally millions of people.” “The law has been in place for a year, but employers are breaking it in the worst ways possible. They need to be told what to do.”
In its rules, the EEOC said it was following decades of court precedent that say laws against discrimination based on pregnancy cover abortion.
People who support abortion rights have also said that the EEOC rules are very important because they protect people after the Supreme Court decision that removed the constitutional right to abortion. Women who live in states with strict abortion laws have to drive farther and longer to get the procedure, which means they have to take time off work to do it.
Source: NBC News
