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Workplace Legal Issues

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Submitted By aluckhardt
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INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze in depth the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. This Act was approved on October 31, 1978 with the purpose of amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.
EXPLANATION OF THE ACT AND ITS HISTORY: The Pregnancy Discrimination Act was brought about as a result of the significant discrimination being placed upon woman in the workplace due to pregnancy or pregnancy related medical conditions. This Act was also passed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court holdings in General Electric Company v. Gilbert, that pregnancy discrimination does not violate the Constitution or other federal law. The Act was passed in 1978 as an effort to rebuke this descision and eliminate this discrimination and set guidelines for employers. As provided by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 is described as follows:
“An Act to amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

That section 701 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

"(k) The terms 'because of sex' or 'on the basis of sex' include, but are not limited to, because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work, and nothing in section 703(h) of this title shall be interpreted to permit otherwise. This

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