July 20, 2016
League of Women Voters of Massachusetts


ACTION ALERT
 
URGENT: PREGNANT WORKERS FAIRNESS ACT

IN CONFERENCE COMMITTEE


As an eloquent editorial in the Boston Globe states, "It's high time to end pregnancy discrimination."
 
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is now an amendment to the Economic Development Bill S.2423. A conference committee will determine whether that Senate amendment remains in the final bill released for a vote. Please take a few minutes now to call or email your Senator or Representative and ask him or her to urge the members of the conference committee to support this amendment to protect Massachusetts women from pregnancy discrimination on the job.
 
It is especially important that members of the conference committee hear directly from their constituents about this legislation that LWVMA supports. Members of the committee and their districts are:
 
Rep. Dempsey: Haverhill
Rep. Kelcourse: Amesbury, Salisbury, Newburyport
Rep. Wagner: Chicopee
Sen. Spilka: Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton and Natick
Sen. Donoghue: Lowell, Dunstable, Groton, Pepperell, Tyngsborough and Westford
Sen. deMacedo: Kingston, Pembroke, Plymouth, Bourne, Falmouth and Sandwich
 
You can find your legislators' contact information here.
 
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is important because no woman should have to choose between a healthy pregnancy and the job she needs. In spite of the subsequent passage of much legislation at the state and national levels, situations still occur in Massachusetts in which employers discriminate against pregnant and lactating women, denying them needed and reasonable accommodations that will allow them to continue performing their duties.
 
The Act would guarantee pregnant workers such simple things as access to water and seating, more frequent or longer breaks, light duty and assistance with manual labor. It will also protect women who request accommodations from reprisals.
 
For more details on the bill, see our testimony before the legislature here.
 
There should be no question in 2016 that women should not have to choose between the health of their pregnancies and their jobs.
 
Please contact your legislators today, and forward this email to friends asking them to do so as well.

 

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