Under the Delaware Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, S.B. 212, employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with limitations due to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition. Accommodations may include:
- Additional equipment for sitting,
- More frequent or longer breaks,
- Periodic rest,
- Assistance with manual labor,
- Job restructuring,
- Light-duty assignments,
- Modified work schedules,
- Temporary transfers to less strenuous or hazardous work,
- Time off to recover from childbirth, or
- Break time and appropriate facilities for expressing breast milk.
An employer may not need to provide such accommodations if these impose an undue hardship. The hardships may be the nature and cost of the accommodation, the employer’s overall financial resources, the overall size of the employer’s business, and the effect on the employer’s business operations.
Employers must notify their employees of their right to be free from pregnancy discrimination. Employees need to know that it is unlawful for an employer to deny employment opportunities based on the need to provide reasonable accommodations, force a pregnant employee to take a paid or unpaid leave when a reasonable accommodation would allow her to perform her essential job duties, and take adverse action against an employee for requesting or using a reasonable accommodation due to pregnancy or childbirth.
Employers can stay compliant with the updated posting requirement with the Delaware Employment Discrimination Peel ‘N Post for current labor law posters.