Is Pregnancy Discrimination Illegal Under Florida Law? Courts Are Divided

The Florida Civil Rights Act, which. among other things, prohibits sex discrimination in employment, does not prohibit pregnancy discrimination, according to a recent decision by a federal judge in Florida.

If you think that sounds crazy, think again. The court's decision in Duchateau v. Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc., Case No. 10-6-0712-CIV-ZLOCH/ROSENBAUM (S.D. Fla., October 4, 2011) is supported by logic and precedent. However, courts are divided on this issue.

Here's the logic. Congress enacted Title VII in 1964, thereby prohibiting sex discrimination in employment. Five years later, the Florida legislature passed the Florida Human Relations Act, which prohibited discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin."In 1972, the Florida legislature amended the Florida Human Relations Act to ensure "freedom from discrimination because of sex." In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled in General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125 (1976) that Title VII did not prohibit pregnancy discrimination. Because Florida law provides that a Florida statute patterned after a federal law will be given the same construction as the federal courts give the federal act, it was clear after Gilbert that the Florida Human Relations Act did not prohibit pregnancy discrimination, either. Subsequent amendments to the Florida Human Relations Act (including changing its name to the Florida Human Rights Act ("FHRA") did not add pregnancy as a protected status, despite the Supreme Court's decision in Gilbert.

In 1978, in response to Gilbert, Congress enacted the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA"), which amended Title VII by re-defining sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. Yet Florida did not amend the FHRA in the years following the enactment of the PDA. In 1991, Florida's First District Court of Appeal in O'Loughlin v. Pinchback, 579 So. 2d 788, 791-92 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), concluded that the FHRA did not prohibit pregnancy discrimination.

In 1992, the Florida legislature amended the FHRA, including changing its name to the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992. Still, despite O'Loughlin, these amendments did not modify the statute's references to sex discrimination or otherwise suggest an intention to prohibit pregnancy discrimination. The language of the FCRA prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex continued to include the pre-PDA language of Title VII. Thus, the Florida Civil Rights Act does not prohibit pregnancy...