Supreme Court looks at pregnancy discrimination

The Supreme Court has already ruled on a number of employment law cases this year. The next topic on its agenda: pregnancy discrimination.
The case involves an employee who’s suing over lost pension benefits. She claims her benefits were lowered because of time she missed while taking two pregnancy leaves. That’s a violation of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA).
But there’s a twist: The leave was taken decades ago, before the PDA was passed. Under the company’s policy — which was legal at the time — the time off wasn’t counted as hours worked for her pension eligibility.
She won in both the district and appeals courts on the grounds that the law was in effect at the time she suffered the financial loss (i.e., when she retired).
The Supreme Court will review the case during its next term, which starts this October. We’ll keep you posted on what happens.
Cite: Hulteen v. AT&T Corp.