Wal-Mart Swears Its New Pregnancy Policy Has Nothing to Do With Outside Pressure

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-07/walmart-swears-its-new-pregnancy-policy-has-nothing-to-do-with-outside-pressure

By Susan Berfield April 07, 2014

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), the nation’s largest retailer and biggest employer of women, has done something unusual: It has improved its pregnancy policies. The changes took effect in March and were reported by the Washington Post on April 5. This morning, OUR Walmart (the union-backed group calling for higher wages and better working conditions) claimed victory. So did three legal organizations. Wal-Mart says it wasn’t responding to outside pressure; it was just looking for ways to help its employees. The timing must be a coincidence.

Let’s start with a little background. Two laws prevent employers from discriminating against pregnant women: The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Both give employers wide latitude to interpret what qualifies as a disability and what counts as an accommodation of those disabilities. As women who work throughout their pregnancies has been increasing, the number of related complaints by pregnant women to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission is also rising. “This is not a problem specific to Walmart,” says Liz Watson, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center. “The employers’ failure to accommodate pregnant women with often minor adjustments is happening throughout the economy and disproportionately falls on women in low wage jobs.”

More than a year ago, a group called A Better Balance, which advocates for workers’ rights, contacted Wal-Mart about its policies on pregnant women. The group claimed Wal-Mart was violating the law by not properly accommodating the temporary disabilities of pregnant women. Wal-Mart said it wasn’t violating the law. Early this year, the National Women’s Law Center filed an EEOC complaint on behalf of a pregnant employee whose supervisor refused to relieve her of duties that included climbing ladders with heavy boxes. Then two Wal-Mart shareholders—employees who are members of OUR Walmart—filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission requesting that the policy be changed.

FULL story and video at link.

[Sherman A1]

1. Of course not

that would be silly of us to think that would be so.....