In a recent decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an employer did not violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) despite excluding pregnant workers from its “Temporary Alternative Duty” (TAD) policy. In the process, the Seventh Circuit provided valuable guidance related to an employer’s burden of production in pregnancy discrimination litigation and the propriety of exclusionary TAD policies.
On Tuesday, April 19, the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section hosted the panel “Navigating the New Normal: Accommodations in the Pandemic Era.” The panel members were Alex Breland of CDK Global in Chicago, IL; Pamela Devi Chandran of the Washington State Nurses Association in Seattle, WA; and Jackie Gessner of Barnes & Thornburg LLP in Indianapolis, IN. Carolyn Wheeler of Katz, Marshall, & Banks LLP in Washington, DC served as moderator. Their consensus was that, although vaccines have (thankfully) lowered Covid-19 infection and death rates, workplace challenges related to Covid have not gone away. They have only changed.