Under the new Pregnancy Accommodations legislation, Oregon employers with six or more employees must provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees for pregnancy-related conditions unless they would impose an undue hardship (effective January 1, 2020).

The new law amends Oregon’s civil rights code and its mandate extends to medical conditions related to pregnancy, including childbirth and lactation.

Reasonable Accommodations
Pregnant employees cannot be forced to accept a reasonable accommodation if they do not have a known limitation, or to take leave if there are other reasonable accommodations available.

The law specifies the following actions as “reasonable accommodation”:

• Acquisition or modifications of equipment and devices,
  
• More frequent or longer rest breaks,
  
• Assistance with manual labor, and/or
  
• Modification of work schedules or job assignments.

Discrimination and Retaliation provisions
The new law prohibits discrimination or retaliation for pregnancy-related reasonable accommodation requests and creates a new cause of action for employees who suffer an adverse employment action or who are refused a reasonable accommodation based on a pregnancy related condition. The rule also applies to applicants and hiring decisions related to the need to provide accommodations.

Employers must post notices informing employees of these employment protections and provide written notification about these rights to new employees at the time of hire and to existing employees by June 29, 2020. The written notification must also be provided within 10 days to an employee who informs their employer that they are pregnant.

The Act allows an employer to not consider a request for accommodation if it poses and undue hardship. The Act considers a reasonable accommodation to constitute an undue hardship if it requires “significant difficulty or expense.” In determining whether a request for an accommodation would cause an undue hardship, employers can consider the nature and the cost of the required accommodation; the employer’s financial resources, number of employees, and the effect on expenses and resources of the employer’s business and business facilities; and the type of operations conducted by the employer.

Penalties
The penalties applied for violations of these provisions are the same as those for violations of any other provision of Oregon's civil rights code.

Templates and other Materials for Employers
BOLI is responsible for the enforcement of these new provisions and will develop materials to help employers meet their new obligations and educate employees of their rights under the new rules.

UEA Employment Law attorneys can help analyze your specific situation and assist you with determining whether an accommodation is “reasonable” and whether the accommodation requires “significant difficulty or expense.”

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