In the Media
Fertility Care Concerns Linger As PWFA Regs Face Revision
Read Time: 1 minMelissa Losch was quoted in Law360’s Employment Authority on the impact of reducing the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s regulations requiring workplace accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions. The article was published on April 9, 2025.
And while abortion is a hot-button issue, requests for fertility care accommodations are more common than requests for abortion-related accommodations, management-side lawyers say.
“Honestly, the abortion issue has not come up directly for me, it just has not been requested,” said Melissa Losch of McGlinchey Stafford PLLC. “I have had some folks that have called me about someone who wants time off for fertility treatments.”
The five-seat EEOC is without the three-member quorum it needs to change the PWFA regulations, but if it regains a quorum and Lucas can secure the necessary votes, Losch predicted that infertility will be among the list of conditions she’ll aim to eliminate from the PWFA’s coverage.
“This commission views the related medical conditions piece as applying to actual pregnancy, not potential pregnancy or abortion, which is termination of a pregnancy,” Losch said “I think she will include that fertility argument as something not contemplated by the statutory definition with the PWFA.”
Despite the uncertainty about what exactly the PWFA rule may end up covering, experts emphasized that a rollback won’t completely erase protections for pregnant and postpartum workers.
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