Supreme Court Delivers New Life To Pregnancy Discrimination Claim

Executive Summary: On March 25, 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion that redefines the standard for disparate treatment claims under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). In Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., the Court applied the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting standard to the plaintiff's PDA claim, but held that even where an employer offers an apparently legitimate nondiscriminatory reason for its actions, plaintiffs can, nevertheless, overcome this reason and establish pretext by providing sufficient evidence that the employer's policies impose a "significant burden on pregnant workers," and that the employer's legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason is "not sufficiently strong to justify the burden." The Justices split 6-3 with the lead opinion authored by Justice Breyer.

Background

In 1978, Congress enacted the PDA as an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to clarify that discrimination because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII. The PDA was enacted in response to the Supreme Court's decision in General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125 (U.S 1976), where the Court held that a disability plan that covered sickness and accidents, but which excluded absences related to pregnancy, was not discriminatory on the basis of sex.

Facts of the Case

Young, a United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) driver whose position required that she be able to lift parcels weighing up to 70 pounds, sued UPS alleging disparate treatment under the PDA because UPS refused to provide her with a light duty position after her doctor imposed a pregnancy-related, twenty-pound lifting restriction. Young argued that the PDA, specifically the second clause, which provides that "women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes . . . as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work," required UPS to provide her with a light duty job similar to those that UPS allegedly provided to employees injured on-the-job, employees disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and employee drivers who had lost their Department of Transportation (DOT) Certification.

The trial court held that Young could not make out a prima facie case of discrimination because the alleged comparators, i.e. employees injured on-the-job...