The PUMP Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act were important legal wins for pregnant workers and nursing mothers. They gave employees clearer rights to pump at work, request pregnancy-related accommodations, and remain in the workforce during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery. However, as important as those laws are, they are only the floor.
The next hurdle is not simply whether employers are complying with the law, but rather, whether employers are providing employees with the support system necessary to thrive at work.
From “Two Wins” to the Next Test
In my first article, I described the PUMP Act and the PWFA as two major steps forward for pregnant and working mothers. The PUMP Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and expanded workplace protections for nursing mothers, including reasonable break time and a private space, other than a bathroom, to express breast milk. The PWFA, which went into effect on June 27, 2023, requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions unless doing so would create an undue hardship.
Since then, the legal landscape has continued to develop. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) interpretive guidance to the PWFA confirms that the law requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, absent undue hardship. The guidance also recognizes that pregnancy-related needs can include more than the obvious accommodations such as lactation, pumping, miscarriage, stillbirth, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, fertility treatment, and postpartum recovery can all be part of the conversation under the PWFA.
The EEOC’s guidance is crucial because it makes clear that pregnancy accommodations should not be treated as extraordinary benefits. In many cases, they are ordinary, practical adjustments that allow someone to keep doing their job. The EEOC identifies several simple modifications that should be reasonable and should not impose an “undue hardship” – a “significant difficulty or expense” for the employer – when requested by a pregnant employee. For example, an employer may need to allow an employee to keep water nearby and drink as needed, take additional restroom breaks, sit or stand as needed, and take breaks to eat and drink.
A chair, a water bottle, a break, a temporary schedule adjustment, or a private place to pump may seem simple, but they can be the difference between a mother staying employed and being forced out.
The Motherhood Penalty Is Still Real
The need for these protections is not theoretical. The motherhood penalty continues to shape how women are evaluated, paid, promoted, and retained.
Recent workplace commentary has captured the problem well: Mothers are often misread. A mother who sets clearer boundaries may be viewed as less committed. A mother who is less willing to answer every non-urgent message immediately may be viewed as less ambitious, less available, or less dedicated. A mother who questions unnecessary meetings or performative urgency may be treated as though her priorities have changed, when in reality her efficiency, judgment, and leadership may have sharpened.
One recent Fast Company article noted that the motherhood penalty appears in both earnings and evaluations, citing research in which mothers were rated as less competent and less committed than otherwise equivalent non-mothers and were recommended for lower starting salaries. The article also highlighted research finding that, in the United States, mothers’ earnings fall substantially in the years after a first child while fathers’ earnings barely move.
Another recent Fast Company article focused on the cost to employers when inflexible systems push mothers out. It described a working mother who proposed a job-share arrangement while pregnant and raising a toddler. The proposal was rejected as “too logistically complicated,” and she left. Others followed. The employer later adjusted expectations, but only after losing talented employees with institutional knowledge.
That story is familiar to many working mothers. What employers describe as a “choice” to leave is often not a real choice at all. It is the predictable result of systems that make staying unreasonably difficult.
One sentence in the Fast Company article struck a chord, “Many high-achieving women . . . are caught in a psychological bind—deeply committed to their career and motherhood, yet feel as though they’re failing at both.” Many moms know this feeling all too well.
Employers Are Missing the Motherhood Advantage
For decades, employers have talked about the motherhood penalty as though motherhood is a workplace liability. But that framing misses something critical: Motherhood often develops the very skills employers say they value.
Working mothers regularly practice prioritization, crisis management, emotional intelligence, negotiation, long-term planning, adaptability, and decisive communication. They learn how to manage competing demands with limited time and limited room for error. They become skilled at identifying what truly matters and what does not.
That is not a lack of ambition or commitment. It is a different kind of leadership—and often a more effective one.
Employers who understand this will have an advantage. Employers who do not will continue to lose experienced, capable employees, and then wonder why retention is so difficult.
Compliance Is the Minimum, Not the Goal
The PUMP Act and PWFA create enforceable rights, but a workplace that supports mothers must go further than technical compliance. The law matters because it gives employees a way to insist on baseline dignity and fairness. But the best employers should not need a lawsuit, EEOC charge, or Department of Labor complaint to understand that a mother should not have to choose between her paycheck, her health, and her child.
What This Means for Working Mothers
If you are pregnant, postpartum, recovering from childbirth, undergoing fertility treatment, nursing, pumping, or managing a related medical condition, you may have rights under the PWFA, the PUMP Act, Title VII, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the FMLA, state law, local law, or some combination of those protections.
If you need an accommodation, request it in writing. You do not need to use legal jargon, but you should clearly explain what you need and how it relates to pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, postpartum recovery, or a related medical condition. Examples may include additional restroom breaks, breaks to eat or drink, a stool or seating, temporary relief from lifting, schedule adjustments, leave for medical appointments, time to recover from childbirth, or time and space to pump.
If you are pumping at work, remember that the PUMP Act generally protects reasonable break time and a private place, other than a bathroom, for one year after the child’s birth. If you are not completely relieved from work during a pumping break, the time may need to be treated as hours worked for minimum wage and overtime purposes.
Most importantly, do not assume that being told “we cannot do that” is the end of the conversation. Under the PWFA, the employer should engage in an interactive process. Under the PUMP Act, most employers must provide legally compliant pumping protections, subject to limited exceptions. Further, under anti-retaliation laws, an employer generally cannot punish you for asserting your rights.
Employees should pay attention to their current or future employer’s policies as they can make all the difference.
The Real Measure of Progress
The PUMP Act and the PWFA were two wins for pregnant and working moms. But the real measure of progress will be whether mothers can stay, grow, lead, and thrive at work after pregnancy and childbirth. When workplaces push out mothers, they lose talent, institutional knowledge, leadership, and loyalty. When they support mothers, they do not merely avoid liability – they strengthen the entire workforce.
It’s important for employees to consult with an employment attorney to gain a comprehensive understanding of the specific legal requirements and obligations related to these new laws in the workplace within their jurisdiction. Please contact Carey & Associates, P.C. on our website or call us at (475) 242-8317 or by email at info@capclaw.com.
