The third major federal statute that deals with gender discrimination is the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), which was enacted in 1978 as an amendment to Title VII. Under this statute, discrimination in the workplace on the basis of pregnancy is prohibited. There are two important points you should be aware of about the PDA.
First, while the PDA does not require employers to provide employees with maternity leave, an employer must treat a pregnant employee no differently than any other employee who requests leave based on a temporary inability to work due to a health condition.
Example: If an employer grants employees up to six months of unpaid leave for extended injuries or illness, the employer must grant up to six months of unpaid leave to a pregnant employee who is unable to work due to pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. Likewise, if an employer provides modified work duties for ill or injured workers who cannot perform their normal work duties, it must do the same for pregnant employees.
Second, unless it can make a strong showing of business necessity requiring it to do otherwise, it is not legal for an employer to refuse to provide pregnant employees with reasonable periods of time off work, even if it does not normally provide sick or injured employees with such time off. This is because non-allowance of leave has a disparate impact on females, since many females become pregnant and need leave from work, while males never require leave for this reason.