Members who sit on the subcommittee and our present will have First Priority to ask questions, followed by members who sit on the full committee and our present. Only after all Committee Members who are present have gone should members who are not of the committee of education and labor ask questions. Opening statements are limited to the chair and the Ranking Member. This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself or the purpose of making an opening statement. A mom and a policy maker, i know how important it is to protect the Economic Security of pregnant women and working families. Our current laws are inadequate and many pregnant workers are placed on unpaid forced out of work when they need a simple accommodation to stay on the job during pregnancy. We are holding a legislative hearing on the pregnant workers fairness act, which takes an important step to guarantee that women will get reasonable accommodation that will allow them to stay in the workplace. Ouruld like to thank witnesses for being here to provide important insight on the discrimination and hardship pregnant women face when they are denied reasonable accommodations in the workplace. To thank Judiciary Committee chairman jerry nadler, the lead sponsor of this bill, for taking time to join us this morning. 75 of women will be employed at some time will be pregnant and employed at sometime in their life, and women are either the primary or cobreadwinners of the household. As a result, more pregnant women work later into their pregnancies. Thatct, Research Suggests more than 80 of firsttime mothers work until their final month of pregnancy i know i did. Pregnant workers may need reasonable accommodations to protect the health of both mother and baby. Reasonable accommodation can range from providing feeding, toer, and light duty excusing pregnant workers from tasks involving dangerous substances. They do not need to be, nor are they typically they do not need to be complicated or costly, but when pregnant workers do not have access to the reasonable accommodations they need, they are often forced to choose between Financial Security and their pregnancy the consequences can be devastating to their health and security. It is important to note that women of color are overrepresented in lowwage, physically demanding jobs and are disproportionately affected by a lack of access to reasonable accommodation. Recognized thess responsibility to provide pregnant women with equal treatment in the workplace when they passed the pregnancy discrimination act. The law clarifies that discrimination against pregnant workers is discrimination on the basis of sex under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law also requires businesses to treat pregnant workers as they would other physically impaired workers 41 years after the passage of the act, federal law still fall short of guaranteeing all pregnant workers have reasonable accommodation. Under current law, a pregnant worker must show that her employer accommodated similarly situated coworkers, a burdensome and often impossible standard. The americans with disabilities act covers pregnancy related impairments but leaves women with less serious pregnancy related impairments or who need accommodations without legal recourse. Even the Supreme Courts decision in young v. Ups, which confirmed the right to reasonable accommodations, have not provided workers or businesses for clarity or Legal Certainty they need. Since young v. Ups, 70 of courts have denied reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers. Pregnant women today continue to suffer Workplace Discrimination at an alarming rate. According to a 2012 survey, more than 60 of workers have seen pregnancy discrimination on the job. For these women, being pregnant can mean losing a job, being denied a promotion, or not hired in the first place. Guaranteeing reasonable accommodation is a crucial step to eradicating pregnancy discrimination. With our protections for pregnant workers, several states from across the geographic spectrum have taken action to fill the void. My home state of oregon is one of those helping to lead the way. The state Legislature Passed a bipartisan bill to provide to require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with issues related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition unless it would impose undue hardship. 21 states and the district of columbia have required employers with more than 15 employees to provide accommodation, bringing certainty to business, preventing costly disputes, and keeping pregnant women safely on the job. Without a federal benchmark, workers and employers are left with laws that provide strong protections for some and no protections for others. We need to make sure all pregnant workers can access the protections they need to stay in the workplace and that is why we are discussing the pregnant workers act today. This would establish a pregnant workers right to reasonable accommodation and guarantee pregnant workers can seek accommodations without facing discrimination and retaliation. The pregnant workers fairness act is an opportunity for congress to fulfill the promise of the pregnancy discrimination act and take an important step toward workplace gender equity, helping pregnancies, and the Economic Security of pregnant and parenting women and their families. I welcome this opportunity to work with my republican colleagues to move this bill forward. I request unanimous consent to enter letters into the record from the International Brotherhood of teamsters and another one from more than 100 stakeholder groups in support of the pregnant workers fairness act. Without objection, so ordered. I now yield to the Ranking Member, mr. Komar, for an opening statement. Reppo, i want to welcome everyone here today. Republicans have long been committed to policies and laws that empower americans to achieve success. Discrimination of any type should not be tolerated and no one should ever be denied an opportunity because of unlawful discrimination. Thats why there are protections to prevent Workplace Discrimination, including laws that protect pregnant workers. The ada provides protections to pregnant workers. The pregnancy discrimination act outlaws pregnancy discrimination. A 2015 Supreme Court ruling affirmed that employers must treat pregnant workers equally and fairly and states, including kentucky, have passed laws protecting flag networkers. Employmentpportunity commission, the institution that enforces civil rights laws against him against pregnant see discrimination, states that the ada forces employers to accommodate pregnant sees. Congress has long supported meaningful and defined protections for pregnant workers that ensure they are not being unlawfully discriminated against as it relates to pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. We should promote policies that encourage a strong family, allow families to flourish, and protect life at all stages. The purpose of americas nondiscrimination laws is to give all americans people opportunities to succeed. Overzealous Government Intervention often causes more harm than good. While we are committed to preventing unlawful discrimination, we should examine legislation that could cause confusion and prove difficult to implement. We should prioritize discrimination policies that are responsible and effective so our nations workers and job creators can flourish and workplaces can be free from his termination. From discrimination. The committee should review laws already on the books that protect pregnant workers as well as the provisions of hr 2694 before advancing legislation that could have unexpected consequences. The hearing today is a starting point. Bottom line, pregnant workers should be protected and reasonably accommodated in the workplace, so i look forward to hearing from our Witnesses Today as we examine the pregnant workers fairness act. Withoutamici objection, all other members who wish to insert written statements may do so by submitting them to the committee electronically in microsoft word format by 5 00 p. M. On november 4. I will now introduce our witness for the first panel. Jerry nadler represents new yorks tense district. He is the chairman of the House Committee on the judiciary. For more than 30 years, mr. Nadler has been on the front lines in the fight for civil rights and has been ever that this defender of the promise for equality for all. Congressman nadler has played a significant role in the fight for womens rights, serving as a central figure in the reauthorization of the violence against women act and is the author of the pregnant womens fairness act. We look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the witness that we have read your written statement and it will appear in full in the hearing record. You are asked to limit your oral presentation to a five minute of your written statement. Before you begin, please remember to press the button on the microphone in front of you. We know you know this. The lightin to speak, will turn yellow to signify you have one minute remaining. When it turns red, youre five minutes have expired and we ask that you wrap up. I now recognize chairman jerry nadler. Rep. Nadler thank you for holding this hearing today and inviting you to testify about my bill. This hearing is long overdue. Pregnancy discrimination is not a new issue. For as long as women have been in the workforce, they have been fired, looked over for promotion or hiring, had their work cut back, or forced out on leave when they became pregnant. The last six months, we have seen reports from women who were forced off the job while pregnant because they needed a simple fix to keep working. ,regnancy is not a disability but sometimes workers need a reasonable accommodation from their employer, such as a stool, extra bathroom break, limiting contact with chemicals, reducing the amount of lifting. These accommodations are short and typically cost very little. For millions of pregnant workers, they are critical. Meanple accommodation can the difference between staying on a job and being forced on leave, a difference between keeping their Health Insurance and putting their pregnancy at risk. Congress passed the pregnancy discrimination act in an effort to stop employers from treating employers this way. It prevented discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or related conditions. Courts have interpreted the law to mean that if you treat your nonpregnant employees well, you have to treat your pregnant employees well. The inverse is also true. If you treat your nonpregnant employees terribly, you have every right to treat your pregnant employees terribly. In 2015, the Supreme Court attempted to address how the pregnancy discrimination act interacted with the need for pregnancy accommodations in the workplace. The courts decision only exacerbated the problem. The court found that in order to receive an accommodation, a pregnant worker has to prove that her employer accommodated nonpregnant employees who were similar in their ability or inability to work. That faces a huge burden on pregnant workers, requires them to have detailed knowledge on the employment history of every other employee. Women must prove that their need for an accommodation is just as valid as their male coworker who had a hernia. For many workers, there is no way to get that information. That is why recently or a recent report found that the court sided with employers in two thirds of pregnancy accommodations. The bird the young decision places on pregnant workers to prove their case is for most pregnant women insurmountable. Since other members of congress have introduced legislation to address pregnancy accommodation, including a bill introduced last week by my republican colleagues , this new legislation appears to be based on the young test and requires employers to provide an accommodation for nonpregnant employees, they must do so for pregnant employees. I am happy to see the interest in seeing pregnant women have the accommodations they need, but the problem with young and with mr. Wahlberg and ms. Wagners proposal is they require pregnant workers to prove they have been discriminated against in order to access accommodations. It does not have to be that complicated. That is why i introduced the bipartisan pregnant workers fairness act. The bill is simple and creates an affirmative right to an accommodation, rather than relying on a model of discrimination. Using the framework and language of the ada, it requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers as long as the accommodation does not impose an undue hardship on the employer. Those accommodations would be available for pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions including lactation. Courts know exactly how to interpret that language. There are three decades of ada caseloads to guide them. Employers similarly have worked within adas requirements for decades and know exactly what their responsibilities will be. But must importantly, women will have the certainty they can safely stay on the job as long as they choose during their pregnancy and keep their paycheck and Health Insurance. We know that this framework for pregnancy accommodation works because weve seen it in action. To date, 27 states around the country have passed pregnancy accommodation laws similar to the pregnant workers fairness act. States like new york, nebraska, washington state. Most recently, South Carolina and kentucky have all passed legislation to provide reasonable accommodation in a bipartisan manner. Here in the house, the bill has over 100 bipartisan cosponsors and is supported by a broad range of health, labor, business and womens rights organizations. Thank you again, chair bonamici and Ranking Member comer. I look forward to continuing to work with you and this committee to move this critical piece of legislation forward. Rep. Bonamici thank you, chairman nadler. Thank you for taking time to testify before the committee today. Your testimony is a valuable piece of legislative record. We will now seat the second panel. Thank you. Thank you to the witnesses and the Committee Staff for that smooth transition. I will introduce our witnesses for the second panel. Ms. Kimberly Michelle Durham is from alabama. Ms. Durham made the trip to washington, d. C. To share her story. Formerly an emergency medical technician in alabama, ms. Durham was forced off the job when she became pregnant. Next, ms. Iris wilbur joined Greater Louisville inc. , the Metro Chamber of commerce, in 2016. She serves as Vice President of Government Affairs and public policy. She works on policy and legislation at the local, state , and federal levels to help advocate for the regions Business Community. Mclaughlin is a partner in the Chicago Office and a former chair of the labor and Employment Law department. She is engaged in a broadbased Employment Law practice specializing in federal and state court and Administrative Agency employment litigation. Asked ms. Din is the head of a leading National Advocacy organization headquartered in new york city. A better balance is dedicated to advancing the rights of working families, promoting fairness in the workplace, and helping workers across the economic Spectrum Care for themselves and their families without risking Economic Security. We appreciate all of the witnesses for being here today and we look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the witnesses that we have read your written statements and they will appear in full in the hearing record. Pursuant to Committee Rules and practice, each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a five minute summary of your written testimony. Let me remind the witnesses that pursuant to title 18 of the u. S. Code section 1001, it is illegal to knowingly, willfully falsify any statement, representation, writing, document or material fact presented to congress or otherwise conceal or cover up a material fact. Before you begin your testimony, please remember to press the button on the microphone in front of you so it will turn on and members can hear you. The light in front of you will turn green. After four minutes, the light will turn yellow to signal you have one minute remaining. When the light turns red, youre five minutes have expired and we ask that you wrap up your testimony. We will let the entire panel make their presentations before we move to member questions. When answering a question, please remember to turn your microphone on. I will first recognize ms. Durham. Welcome to the committee. You are recognized for five minutes for your testimony. Ms. Durham good morning. My name is Michelle Durham and im a mom from alabama. I want to thank congresswoman bonamici, congressman comer, and the subCommittee Members for having here today. Yesterday was the first time i have ever been on a plane. It was a little scary, but i was glad to make the trip. I want you to know what happened when i became pregnant four years ago. They say pregnancy is supposed to be a time of happiness but my pregnancy was filled with fear and anxiety because my employer sent me home without pay right when i needed a paycheck the most. Thats not the way things should be. In march 2015, when i was 22 years old, i began working for rural metro corporation. I was an emergency medic