Lamberton Law Blog

More than 100 members of Congress filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision rendered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejecting a former United Parcel Service worker's pregnancy and disability bias suit, arguing that the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) demands pregnant workers receive the same accommodations available to non-pregnant workers. The amicus brief in Peggy Young v. United Parcel Service Inc. (No. 12-1226) asserts that an employee's inability to work is irrelevant under the PDA and that the Fourth Circuit's decision misinterprets the PDA and the Supreme Court's own precedent by improperly narrowing the protections that lawmakers intended to guarantee to pregnant workers. The Fourth's Circuit’s ruling held that UPS did not violate the PDA when it refused to allow Young to continue working with the company instead of offering her the light work the company grants to disabled workers and those injured on the job. The ruling affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Young’s 2008 suit, which alleged UPS violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the PDA by not allowing her to work while under a doctor’s order not to lift 70-pound packages, an ability company policy defines as an "essential function" of the job.