HARRISBURG — U.S. Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, visited Harrisburg on Friday to draw attention to recently passed federal legislation aimed at expanding workplace protections for pregnant workers.
The Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, which Casey first introduced in 2012, went into effect on June 27 and now requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide pregnant workers with “reasonable facilities” such as permission to sit or stand while performing work duties and modified break or shift schedules unless doing so would impose an undue burden on the employer.
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“It’s one less thing to worry about in the workplace and in the employer-employee relationship,” Casey said. “You can have a standard that ensures that employers and employees can work this out based on that standard of reasonable accommodation. That’s obviously better for everyone.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Casey said he was “grateful” the PWFA bill passed after a decade of working to get it passed.
“I’m thrilled that this has been accepted and now implemented,” Casey said. “This was something that required different groups to come together to find a solution and accomplish something that should have been done 10 years ago.”
State Senator Amanda Cappelletti, a Democrat from Delaware, announced earlier this month that she plans to introduce a similar bill in the upper chamber to protect pregnant workers.
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Casey expressed support for Cappelletti’s efforts to introduce similar legislation at the state level.
“We’d like to see that at the state level,” Casey told reporters. “And I think the more we can strengthen that principle — reasonable accommodations — the better.”
